I would greatly appreciate any advice, experiences, or resources you could share to help me plan effectively.Thanks in advance for your help!

It will get you the experience without all the hard work of locating a property and it gets you in the game.

Hey @Vincent L SanchezI sorta agree with he 1st one, best bet is to find a partner that will jv with you. and If you'd really like to go for a private money/ hard money loan, that partner must have good experience and credit which can also be included in the loan app.  

Are you suggesting this because you had some bad experience?

Experience is the one really your broker needs to attest to.

if you just read headlines you'd think everyone in the US rented. 

Not everyone can say this, so personal experiences will vary.

If anyone is reading this that I had contact with during that time I had nothing to do with his tactics.

It's great to have you here.Here are some recommendations for you:Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/m...Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/a...Read Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/r...Check out BP Money Podcast: https://www.biggerpockets.com/..

Also, in our experience, 95+% of agents have no clue how to calculate ROI, Cash-on-Cash, Cap Rate, etc., so what are they really going to help an investor with?