Real estate is a team sport and your network is your net worth so the more people you interact with, the more deals and partnerships you can make.

If you're not looking at a timeframe of at least ten years, you're not investing, you're gambling. 

You just don't know if your investments will pay off and that is the gamble.

You will be loving life when fast forward 6 years you can attend every sporting event, school meeting, play, etc. because of the freedom your real estate provides.  

It's a gamble.

They key is to commit to the area and get to know the centers of influence in the area and that includes the local business owners, HS and youth sports coaches, political reps, pastors, non profit coordinators, housing authority case workers, and yes... the drug lords, pimps and OG's to a lesser degree.

But its not unlike gambling in a casino.  

So many others "settle" and take the deal in hopes for higher sales prices in time, they are literally gambling on continued appreciation to take the deal down.

Don't get me wrong; there are plenty of issues/problems/quirks that old houses have that new houses don't, and an old house can obviously have hidden problems and big repair/maintenance bills too--which is why thorough due diligence is fundamental to REI...but, the point is: a brand new house is not a foolproof solution to repairs/maintenance headaches (and in some cases, a brand new house can be a much bigger gamble than an older house).This is a particularly important lesson for inexperienced investors, who tend to be the most prone to "shiny object syndrome" (the tendency to let nice aesthetics distract from real, underlying issues).

The point was mentioned that you can negotiate a better price by not using an agent, true, but to me REI is a team sport & if I started excluding my normal broker from deals word might get out, especially since I am in a smaller market.