Turning to real estate, starting out with getting my real estate agent license and using that as foundation for investing!

Do a deal then pay it down, rinse and repeatThis is an investment property apart from my primary residence.  

This is not a "real estate rental income" activity as defined by the IRS, so whether you are a REP or not, you can take this benefit.All of this is separate from a QOZ Investment, which would require you to first recognize a capital gain from another source (say a stock sale), invest that gain, hold it in a Corporate or Partnership structure (likely partnership), meeting the substantial improvement qualifications of being a QOZB, and then yes, you get to avoid the depreciation recapture at the end of the 10 year hold period, at least for the portion of your investment attributable to the original gain that you invested in the project. 

Just starting my journey into real estate investing and looking forward to meeting and catching up with like minded people.

Hi Nicholas, congrats on the investment!

Sometimes, the unsophisticated purchasers have to be taken by the hand by the listing agent and sometimes dragged across the finish line with a lot of services involved and typically a lower commission than a multifamily investment.

I do have a handful of clients that have ended up using multiple CPAs just due to who their partners were on different deals, and even in those cases they almost always end up consolidating to a single CPA - taxes are enough of a headache without dealing with 3 different professionals who each only have a slice of the whole picture.If you are going to regularly be investing across the country, it doesn't hurt to work with a firm that has State and Local Tax (often referred to as "SALT") internal resources, though typically this does come from larger firms with larger fees. 

Hard Money= Institutional investors or a pool of investors financing distressed and/or turnkey properties.

How bad an idea is building for your first investment property? 

If you can't control the little you make now, you won't control your investments.