My thought is if they can’t treat this process like a job interview or some other important priority in their life, then paying rent on time won’t be a priority for them either.

Also “if Life punches you in the face, you roundhouse kick that sucker back”.

I lost months of my life and hours of sleep trying to figure it out and after a while I quit.

Like in most cases in life, the answer is it DEPENDS. 

Invest part time as you save and adjust your plans as you go through life.

You have to be smart about finding the right property, but so much of the learning (unfortunately) will be done in real life experiences- for me anyway.

If you walk into an occupied house that the occupant doesnt want you in, you might be playing with your life.

That is exciting that you are winding down this stage of life.

Absolutely, I think many things in life happen for a reason.

Otherwise, some book recommendations (these include mostly books on business/lifestyle or buy/hold investing):- "E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber- "Cashflow Quadrant" by Robert Kiyosaki (further builds on the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" foundation)- "Set for Life" by Scott Trench- "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene- "The Book on Managing Rental Properties' by Brandon Turner and Heather Turner- "The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod-"HOLD" by Gary Keller (geared toward SFR)-"The ABCs of Real Estate Investing" by Ken McElroy (geared toward commercial investing)"Multi-Family Millions" by David Lyndahl (This is on my list of "To-Reads".