Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books for this or you can learn by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum.

Just being on here and interacting with everyone else, will help alleviate some trepidation you may have had. 

Being honest about where you are says a lot to any company or person you'd be working with (likely one of the things rockstars look for - it's something that I look for), and I'd encourage you to be 100% honest in any interaction like you were here. 

There are many elements that are much costlier than the boiler-roof, windows, foundation etc.

And your adjusted cost basis includes all elements including depreciation and capital improvements.In your scenario you purchased your old property for $500K and sold for $ 1mil. 

This is my first post and I am looking forward to interacting with everyone.

I'm okay with being patient so that I can offer those elements to a partnership or to have for diving in on my own. 

If you want to work as a real estate agent then a college degree itself won't help you much (unless it is super impressive sounding) so if you are paying for it I'd recommend . . . not - and if you are not paying for it then study accounting or law.If you're hoping to work in development or want to be "hands-on" in renovations then you may find a specific degree in those fields will be helpful -- Real Estate Development is a degree at some universities (like University of Utah, among others) and for contracting a Mechanical Engineering degree would be a boon.If I can be of any help to you in this processing I'd love to interact -- feel free to PM me!

Listed price was $289,000, so I used the likely frustration and fatigue element of the sellers numerous failed closings as my leverage and presented an all cash, zero contingencies, and a 10 day close at $255K, which was countered to $263K which I accepted.

@DeAngelo Melone private money is already a HUGE element to being an investor.