Networking and connecting with lenders, financial institutions, and note investors is just as important as proper deal analysis and underwriting in my opinion. 

I've seen a lot of investors get into some really bad situations because they've depended on someone else to find deals for them relying on their "analysis" of what a deal is.

I suggest you do a risk analysis looking at the savings vs risk of the rate increasing on your ARM.

Start doing one deal analysis every week.

@Colby Leboeuf I'd recommend looking at J Scott's "Introduction to Real Estate Investment Analysis" and Brandon Turner's "How to Accurately Estimate Expenses on a Rental Property in 3 Easy Steps."

Leverage as much local knowledge as you can by reaching out to people already in the industryDo a thorough investment analysis before you invest in a propertyWhen you market the property, a picture is worth 1,000 wordsDon’t think that short term rentals have to be “vacati0n homes.”

According to Pew, "investors bought 24% of all single-family houses sold nationwide last year, up from 15% to 16% annually going back to 2012, according to a Stateline analysis of data provided by CoreLogic, a California-based data analytics firm.

Both yourself and @Helen Kirk are Pro Members here on BP and as such can use the analysis tools as frequently as you wish.

Far too many get stuck in the "paralysis by analysis" stage, thinking they just don't know enough to get started.

What is never free is your time, especially if research, synthesis, and analysis are not your strengths, and you would rather be doing something else (see above).