If you're willing to trade the time and effort, your best shot is finding a deal yourself... but remember, this requires experience and skill as well. 

But I do things that are rarely recommended--- like trading work (mostly low skill work) for rent.

It's a real skill that takes time to learn! 

@Karen Kalina Looks like they are not skilled enough or know what they are doing with a job of this magnitude.

Use my negotiation skills ,Call them up offer to buy the distressed property with 5,000 down and reasonable terms on owner financing .

I want to keep growing, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself, are there any degrees or programs that I can take to kind of get a better grip on analyzing markets, valuing assets, and gain other essential skills needed for a real estate investment career?

I want to keep growing, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself, are there any degrees or programs that I can take to kind of get a better grip on analyzing markets, valuing assets, and gain other essential skills needed for a real estate investment career?

What skills or certifications would you recommend that I could bring to the table that would help build rapport and get me in the door faster or better?  

But don't listen to me, lots of folks are doing well buying large to small apartments, but its a unique skill and has its difficulties.   

Because no one is going to help you, you must help yourself - we are all that middle point around which the world revolves - and it's up to you to own it.So when our friend Lydia thought, 'come on dude, put some of your time and thought into it,' it's because, like me, she's probably seen a lot of people approach this biz and we now see at a glance whether they have the skill set, disposition, and self-starter attitude required for it.For example, I used to tell people, "You should consider getting into real estate," but when they text me later that evening asking me what website they look into licensing courses on, I realize I made a mistake, because I'm not going to Google That For You.But take heart, because these are all learned skills, you just need to focus on learning the right ones.