I understand the challenges and competition in this field and am willing to put in the time and effort to learn and grow.If you have any advice on how someone in my position could gain practical experience or alternative ways to get started in real estate without significant initial capital, I’d be eager to hear your thoughts.Thank you for your time! 

also noting most people arent' aware but the credit score run by a mortgage lender and say a general lender like a bank are actually going to be different scores (and likely slightly different ranges) - with some greater weights on mortgage debt for the mortgage lender Credit Bureau settings

The NFI-ODCE is a capitalization-weighted, gross of fee, time-weighted return index.

PS: I'm sure I can great a nicer LTV but my business taxes don't show large gains on paper.

When house-hacking with 5% down, returns on cash invested could be huge when you factor in the appreciation gains.

When I sold my properties, the price did not increase much (though there was still a slight profit, couple with the rental I had over the years and currency gain (bought when USD was low and sold when USD was high).

Although a cash offer may help you win the property or gain concessions in the short-term, there are long-term benefits to using debt. 

@Sheena Varghese For flips taking over a year, the IRS treats them as business inventory, so profits are taxed as ordinary income, not capital gains, regardless of the holding period.

Ideally avoiding capital gains tax, we've owned it for more than 5 yrs & lived there the whole time.  

Would having the license help me save money or gain more control over my projects?