The big question: could I survive, let alone thrive, as a self-employed real estate investor?

Fill in the foundation below.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthereCheck out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

Ultimately I want to have a few cash flowing SFRs or small apt bldgs.

They are great sources of information.2) Read the UBG, Ultimate Beginner's Guide3) Set up your key word alerts:4) Read any and all articles and blogs related to wholesaling to get a solid understanding of the fundamentals5) Ask questions, the BP community is great for providing insight and thoughts that are creative and straight-forward.Most of this is in the "Getting Started" section.AndyPS.

Fill in the foundation below.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthereCheck out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

Welcome Bruce, be sure to check out the BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide as it is a great bit of information to get started.

Time to build the foundation below.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthereCheck out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

Until you get to know an area (from actually investing there), you'll have to rely very heavily on your comps and get many opinions from your team.Since it's very different working with an investor that a retail buyer, hopefully your sister-in-law has worked with investors - or reads the biggerpockets real estate agent's ultimate guide to working with investors found here:http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/08/24/real-estate-agents-working-with-investors/Ideally you'll want to find an area of the city where the average days on market for rehabbed properties is fairly low for a quick resale and there is a good spread between "wholesale" and "retail" properties.Good luck - let us know how it goes.Larry

Time to build the foundation below.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthereCheck out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

I read the BP Ultimate Beginners Guide (UBG)2.