I don't have the personality or the math skills to really get into things like buying and selling Paper or Notes.

Confirming what we experience every day, if you're not doing the work yourself, then good luck finding a contractor in Southern California who can answer your call.http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/business/20170830/la-construction-firms-cant-find-enough-skilled-workers-amid-too-much-demand-for-fixing-up-homes-granny-flats

I will start with that & develop some skills along the way ha!

It was a great lesson in vetting tenants going in and also DIY skills.

Its better to do the leg work and come up with your own criteria based on your knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Since we already own a lot of properties, we work to partner with cheap and skilled tradespeople saving maintenance costs.We are proactive in our maintenance so our tenants are happier and they stay on average longer than most tenant occupancy periods (which saves the owner on future leasing).We set up leases to end during summer months where we have the most tenants looking for new houses to rent so we can maximize rental rates.Even though we rent fast, we prioritize make ready repairs so that we can continually keep the property up to maximize rental potential and identify and get great tenants.We are proactive in our collection of rent so we evict faster than self managing investors.We perform inspections to identify how tenants are keeping the property to not renew leases to hoarders and people who break lease terms.We perform move in and move out inspections by video to document condition to charge back tenants on security deposits.For some investors, they are not as on top of all aspects of property management and they should get help (to improve ROI). 

If that's not an option, and you have a W2, I always tell people that one of the most valuable skills I learned was how to save $25K.

It seems your non-PM friend is probably not very skilled at these aspects.Every time you have a vacancy due to poor tenant screening and placement, it costs you a lot of money, in lost rents, make ready, marketing, etc.

Investors pool resources and skills to buy large-scale properties and split the profits.House Flipping: Flipping house is one of the most popular strategies to get started in real estate.

They have a lot of knowledge and skills but they are expensive.