You can be well compensated for your efforts, but you now have a job.  

Nice job! 

Hard to qualify if you have a W-2 job. 

Many lenders offer flexible financing terms for investors.Do you have any properties in mind?

I do not like recommending contractors because as we all know sometimes they do a great job and next time not so good, but I would use him again.   

Online Courses and Webinars: Platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and BiggerPockets offer courses specifically tailored to new real estate investors.

There are also owners that buy at $30,000 home that is dilapidated, in the worst part of town, and not in rentable condition to anyone that has a job or just standards in general.I suppose there is the chance that you were done wrong by 5 property management companies, and had a run of horrible tenants, but I would wager a guess you got what you paid for. 

But full cash offers have won me out.

I'm looking for a lender that offers 5% and hopefully will do 100% financing.

Regardless of the real estate type, I think it’s more productive to just make $600k a year in your job and get some great properties in great locations, enjoy the tax savings, and let time do its thing with appreciation and mortgage pay down.