Leverage is a powerful thing.

she even made a comment that i was going to lose all our money and they would have to pay for my kids college education. 

But, that then begged the question, how to get educated and what books are worth the time to read.

It reduces your leverage to manage them later. if they are getting booted from their current place, why would you think they can pay you?

My plan to leverage on lower mortgage rates.Please share your thoughts.

If not, I think it’s worth educating yourself.

If you would like to meet up I specialize in educating our investors in management as I have several years of management with over 1500 units.

After 6 months I used a HELOC to leverage the property to buy another rental property. 

I am getting my license so I can be more educated in real estate, get access to MLS, and be able to see properties quickly.I thought I should look for a Broker who is an investor so he/she could help guide me as I expand in the future. 

Once you're deemed credit worthy by lenders you can start using leverage which needs to be used VERY carefully but is also extremely powerful.I personally do NOT recommend that someone with a trades or self employment 'life track' as you are describing is best suited to buy a first house with cash, and for instance use your time to fix it up.Few reasons here:Firstly, often the kinds of 'cash deals' available are ones that can to generalize tend to be more cash flow type properties (as opposed to equity properties).