I'm pretty new to it myself, still figuring out how it works, which part of it I want to be involved with...I know one suggestion I hear a lot about is going to Real Estate Investment meetings/ Associations.

Only difference is increased bonus depreciation on equipment, but the theory and methods for everything else remain the same.

Are you involved i.e. what is your sphere of influence?

Even with a third-party involved, options that are functionally contract assignments ($100 option to buy some third party's property) are unlikely to survive scrutiny. 

Outside of work, I’m an avid traveler that has visited 54 countries (and love hearing travel tips), a martial arts fan with black belts in two martial arts, and I read a book every week (and always love good reading suggestions).How did I get involved with real estate?

@Joshua Dorkin, @Brandon Turner, @Dave Van Horn, @Mindy Jensen,  and whoever else at BP is involved in publishing -- Amazon.com offers a fantastic service called WhisperSync that coordinates the Kindle ebook with the Audible audio edition of the same book. 

Welcome @Robb Chamberlain,It's good to see more locals getting involved in real estate investing.

Turnkey can be a very good way to get started for an investor with little time to be more involved. 

If you want to do long term, then you need to ditch the rehab costs initially and plan on coming up with those through another financing methods or cash, once you own the property. 

Yes, there plenty of risks, bur before you even look at the risk involved, you will need to see if your house is zoned for a business such as a day care.This could be a problem in of itself...Chris