Basically who is all involved in me having to buy a house and sell it. 

As long as you have the place well inspected and know what deferred maintenance is involved and what it costs, you have a great chance to succeed. 

The level of activity and involvement are very different, especially when getting started...and they meet different goals/objectives. 

Even within the topic of 'investing in the stock market' you will find a range of sub-segments, like day-trading, swing-trading, or low-involvement long-term investing. 

I want to be more closely involved in the process to learn as much as possIble and be able to see it firsthand.

Often there are many people involved, siblings in other states or a child or spouse they want to consult with before making a decision.

A 16 unit multifamily can qualify for a 35 year fixed rate loan under the HUD 223(f) loan program, however the fixed soft costs involved with that program generally are not economical for a request of that size.

I do almost all my own work, even if it involves sweating pipes and gluing drains.

You will need to involve tradesmen to run the electric and set up the panels and water lines so it could get spendy so you'd have to run the numbers locally to figure out if it's worth it.

My brother, who lives in Florida, really wants to get involved in real estate but he does not have any money and does not own a home yet.