I agree that experience is the best teacher, but people should place emphasis on understanding fundamentals - you can get that acclimated with basics from reading.   

You could pursue grad school with an emphasis on Real Estate and Finance.

I do buy &hold throughout the city and suburbs with emphasis on solidity and appreciation and the market has been Good to me.

My personal feelings are that you are attributing too much emphasis on what you can prepare for by  learn from a book and the internet, etc,  and calculate from a spreadsheet.  

I put a lot of emphasis on the educating yourself on your markets - the more you know about what the property is worth, the better off you will be. 

@Max Baker I have two rather unrelated investment strategies, although emphasis shifts from time to time as markets evolve.1) These tend to be local investors only, due to greater logistical involvement (contractors, etc):a) Buy ugly houses at wholesale price to rehab and flip (mostly inner city, but not always - as I'm doing one now in one of the aging but still desirable norther suburbs).b) Alternate exit strategy is to hold for good rental cash flow.c) Or, if not ready for another rehab (or not in my preferred locations - as I'm working on one now way out of town to assign to another investor), sometimes assign the contract for a quick cash fee.2) Buy, hold, sell new/newer homes (me and/or my investor clients) in leading-edge, fast-growth emerging suburbs for best opportunity for future appreciation (over next 5-10+ years).

This is what I emphasis to my team.

On the podcasts, there is an emphasis on consistently making offers AND on being okay with a lower standard of living while keeping eyes on the prize - that was my justification for pushing further North, as while it would be a longer commute, the consensus I have gathered is that North Denver is the next up-and-coming area.

Additionally, Zillow and like sites place a lot of emphasis on pictures, which will allow you to compare similar properties to try discern why one property sold for more than another if all other things are equal.I hope this helps!!! 

I'm starting to buy one stupid thing with each deal, emphasis on stupid, that I would never waste money on otherwise if I didn't just put together a successful investment.