When I run the numbers, it's almost always resulting in negative cash flow.I have a decent amount of equity in my primary residence as I bought it from the county at a deep discount and rehab'd it.  

The Southern California market is a mature market with very experienced and deep pocketed investors.  

Hello , my name is Paul Thervil hairstylist/barber new to the industry Look forward to dive I real estate build a strong team and create a Legacy for generations to come.

It also gives the company a very high chance of being around, and the deep pockets allow it to withstand financial shocks better.

If a tenant (or one of their guests) is severely injured while on you property - - you are the deep pockets and they WILL come after you!

I really want to dive into this, however my concern is spending hours upon hours of research on properties only to not win the bid at a good percentage.  

Welcome to the site @Eric Piferglad to see you have dived in full-time in the industry!

I definitely need a better source of income to allow me to start all of this and I am hoping when I dive into being a Realtor that will help.

The goal is to help build your credit and to not go deep into unwanted debt.

This is really a deep wisdom you are sharing in your post @Cameron Skinner!