I am passionate about real estate and also trying to figure out a profitable way to use our skills in this market.

There was a time (the last time) where under water 2nds traded for 5 cents.

Of course, you need decent but basic math analysis skills to do this.

Both of those things seem to be good recourses, I just wanted to see what else I can do to prepare my skills and prepare financially.

And lastly... work on skills for dealing with the public. 95% of your tenants will be great.

I plan on asking several questions as I develop my real estate investment knowledge and skills.

But, since you are a contractor you have a skill that can be traded for equity in a project once you learn what the parameters of a deal like that might look like.

They should have resources to pay at least 1 more months rent (Through the end of May) it also sounds like they could have valuable job skills to get rehired and there’s always unemployment insurance. 

Read the fine print on anything where it seems you're getting something for nothing.Years ago I investigated "free" money being offered for lead paint abatement work, and buried many pages into the agreement was a paragraph saying that rents would be kept at least 30% below "fair market rent" for the units for five years, or something to that effect.When I reached that paragraph I stopped reading, it wasn't worth it to continue.Sometimes it's worth the trade-off or restrictions.

Being a RE agent forces me to work on my weaker skill sets.