At some point, you have to become somewhat skilled at estimating rehab costs (within reasonable differences compared to contractor bids), so that you know whether something is potentially a deal or not before you make an offer.

I do have some construction skills and would be willing to do rehab work as well.

Glad to meet you Ibrahim sounds like you have some skills that people would love to hear more about.

They are supposed to be licensed realtors, but just passing a real estate license course does not teach them any property management skills.

It is a shame that kids get out of high school and have very few job skills, have no clue about finances and know very little about day to day living.

Well said comments on the value of a real estate wholesaler...Wholesalers have specific skills related to "turning over rocks" and finding great deals.Investors that don't spend their time doing that reap the benefits of immediate access to deals.A great way to increase your value and minimize arguments as a wholesaler is to simply be transparent.

If I have the skills to do it and the ability to train others to do it, why shouldn't I make more training others in those skills than what I would just applying the skills myself?

If they don't match, it's an absentee owner.Granted, this approach requires some programming skill, but you could probably hire a script monkey to pound out something in a week, and that script would be able to generate a new list for you any time you'd like... just download the latest version of the database from the county and run the script.

My realtor suggested I find a site like this one to hone my skills, and develop new contacts, and I have been very impressed with the knowledge found here.

FWIW, I have found an number of factors more likely to be associated with poor judgement and decision making skills than current income including: behavior consistent with a cluster B personality disorder (especially very high entitlement), severe mental illness, a very young age and severe adverse childhood events combined with a lack of family or social support, and drug/alcohol addiction.