While you do this you can read through the forums and listen to some of the podcasts.

@Brandon Patrick I just listened to @David Pere's latest podcast episode, The Military Millionaire - on it he spoke with Aaron Mazzrillo and they met at the NSDREIA meet-up and both spoke highly of it. https://www.nsdrei.org/ Looks like the next meeting is this Tuesday

If you're interested in listening to the entire forecast you can do so here.  

I've been watching videos, listening to podcasts, and reading books to learn as much as I can about rental investing.

I have been listening to podcasts and watching videos and studying it for about a year now and I feel I am prepared to begin making my first moves and buying my first property.

I am planning to buy my first investment property which is a brand new town home 2 miles south of James river in Manchester, VA city ( exactly 3 miles from Virginia State Capital ).I started listening to the podcast of BiggerPockets on youtube & started taking small steps towards being financially independent.Property price is 380K and i am planning to put down 20% down. 

I have been saving money and listening to the podcast for some time now.

I'd say the most important qualities of an agent are:Be a good communicator ConscientiousAttentive (active listener)ProactiveConnector of people (contractors, lenders, inspectors, etc).Different clients demand different skillsets, but I think buyers & sellers will be well-served if their agent has the above qualities.

I have been listening to the Bigger Pockets money podcast for over a year and have been interested in real estate investing for a while. 

I have listened to many of the podcasts and a lot of the investors say that they get no`s from banks about their loan.