You need cashflow especially in this top of the cycle.

Employment has neared an all-time high of about 120,000 jobs The College Station-Bryan Business-Cycle Index, released monthly by Texas A&M University's Private Enterprise Research Center (PERC), attempts to reflect the current state of the economy.

Here is another article from the same site which I thought was interestinghttp://www.ajarealtyinvestments.com/blog/2016/9/23/where-are-we-in-the-housing-cycle

I have about $50,000 to cycle through.Should I be working on ther sales using hard money lenders throughout the process? 

As a result, investors might find themselves stuck in a cycle of over-analysis.To overcome analysis paralysis, I advise real estate investors to take several steps: Set Clear Criteria: Define specific investment criteria and goals.

The recent uptrend is in higher interest rate cycle.

They are securing long-term Fannie debt and expecting appreciation at the end of the loan cycle.

So a sponsor that's great for one investor will probably be terrible for another (and vice versa).I'm a conservative investor, so when I invest in multi-family I prefer sponsors that have at least one full real-estate cycle of experience, little to no money lost, low leverage, and high skin in the game.

I have enjoyed the up cycle in Vegas personally but I think we have to remember back in 2011 to 2013 things had bottom WAAAY out and were priced far below replacement value in many instances so that was an incredible time to buy. so starting today while I am still bullish on Vegas not sure I would be baking in that aggressive of appreciation numbers or rent increases.  

I am not an agent but a broker and owner of my company and there is a huge difference.In my state of Georgia you can pass a license test and become an agent.To be a broker you have to go through many more qualifications and put in your time.The strategy remains the same in that you target a specific audience and test and track.You then become consistent and start getting great results.Most do something once and hope it sticks.People constantly cycle onto the next greatest thing without giving what they are currently doing a chance to succeed.No matter what you do if you don't test and track and be consistent you will have mixed results at best.