Self educate yourself constantly for you can be better prepared once you purchase your first home.

At this time my greatest focus is to gain as much education as possible so I can move forward with my first house hack within the next 12 months.

You can either get that from (a lot) of self-education, or just hire a realtor.

It's better for you to miss deals while you educate yourself than to get involved in a deal that turns out to be a loser.

I don't recommend you do it yourself, but being educated on the issues will help you get more out of any time you spend with an attorney.

You should continue educating yourself by reading books, listening to podcasts and networking with like-minded RE professionals through local REI clubs found on meetup and here on BP.

I joined the forum and listen to the podcasts because i felt that this was one place that was real, that wasn't a gimmick or scam and primarily bc they allowed free exchange of information and education.

So today I was doing maintenance at one of my rentals, I opened the closet to access the central AC handler unit to change the filter and after I opened the closet door,  I had to rearrange a few things to clear the space to the left so I can have a clear path to the filter slot.As I moved some clothes to the right my hand touched what appeared to be a human head on the rack.I quickly jumped back and in my mind was a scene in Silence of the Lambs...I tripped on myself and fell on my butt.I was so scared LOL.Glad the tenant wasn't there.

I still have a lot to learn but have polished off most of the BP real estate podcasts and have self educated my self a lot on wholesaling (mainly from American perspectives, not sure of a lot of the differences between our laws yet in regards to wholesaling).

With today's technology tools are at your fingertips.