Make sure you know what it's like to be an Agent before you spend thousands of dollars on MLS fees etc.. 

Well owners who already had section 8 tenants in place didn't want to spend $5, $10, $15k or more upgraded a unit that has a tenant in place just to maintain the rents they had (or have a slight increase) so a lot of section 8 approved properties stopped taking section 8.Right after COVID though, it seems that section 8 has lowered their standards a bit.

Expect to spend a considerable amount of your time speaking to people.Expect to work dozens of hours/week with little to no immediate result.Expect most of your early interest from potential clients to come from your sphere of influence.Expect to go 3-6 months without getting paid (unless you do rentals which usually pay faster)Expect to be bombarded with distractions - mainly, people/companies marketing to you so that you choose their system for quick and easy buyer or seller leads.

I have taken dozens of flights for free using credit card points, but Dave isn't going to teach that technique to people who can't control their spending because there's too much risk that they won't have the same discipline I do.Dave teaches people to invest safely because he doesn't want people with no financial discipline taking his advice wrong and chasing get-rich-quick schemes.

Quote from @Corinne Snyder:Hi Michael, my CPA will not allow me to claim myself as a real estate professional with my one rental single-family home rental property because I do not spend enough hours per year running it, therefore he won't allow any overhead expenses to be claimed; only expenses related to the property directly.  

Ongoing construction projects valued between $26 billion and $30 billion fuel employment opportunities.

They're spending tax-payer money, so they'll cut a check without batting an eye.Document condition before and after with photos, inspect regularly, and you should be fine.

I will spend around $5000 - $7000 a year for tax planning and filing.

If I had ten thousand liquid cash to spend, I'd probably do a house hack two-family and obtain an FHA loan with only 3.5% down. 

I believe the neighborhood has some of the strongest fundamentals in the entire city but its incredibly easy to make the wrong assumptions when investing in Mount Airy if you don't truly know the market and the only way to do this is by spending considerable time in the neighborhood.