As of now, I put about 20% of my paycheck towards retirement accounts and 20% towards just a regular high-savings account.

Hey Billy,Welcome to BP.Check out some blogs I wrote for Bigger Pockets a while back that can give you a perception on some if things to look our for when starting:http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/01/03/invest-for-cash-flow-or-growth-analysis/http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/12/20/first-investment-property-important-things-consider/http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/11/15/3-types-of-risks-real-estate-investors-regularly-take/I hope you find them useful.Thanks and have a great day.

A little bit about myself for anyone interested:I'm looking to be a buy-and-hold investor while continuing my regular job - I am looking to put money to work and would be potentially interested in doing so as part of someone else's deal; I would consider both SFR and MFR deals.I am an investor in my day job (currently private equity / buyouts, soon to become public equities) so may have some bad habits, or at least industry-specific ones, to break; I generally anticipate being relatively analytical / systematic in looking at dealsMy family held a few properties when I was growing up - I have experience personally doing refurbishing work and secondhand experience with property management activities (this will hopefully help me as contextual information, I don't anticipate taking on an active role in refurb or property management in the near future)Right now, I am trying to educate myself on the process of deal sourcing (MLS, wholesaler buyer lists, etc.) and market data sources; in particular, I would really appreciate any input on good sources for publicly available market-level data in manipulable format such as Excel or .csv as well as input from anyone who uses a systematic deal-screening approach both on their criteria and how they get reliable / quality data into a screening-friendly formatThanks for everything people have already contributed. 

This is passive investment earnings, not earned income taxed at your regular rate.  

If you want an inside scoop then find the agents that regularly list them and start building a relationships with them. 

It ooks better and covers any gaps A Cabinet deep refrigerator instead of a regular refrigerator is much more (very much more) expensive then a regular size refrigerator.  

My only fear is switching it from the section 515 to the regular market

question for those who claim the home office deduction: So I have 3 properties total under an LLC as well as my regular full time job.  

Just a regular flip.

He gave me a list of local banks that do this on a regular basis and know all the ins and outs of those loans.