I certainly think it would be worth your time to spend half a day looking at some possibilities. 

I have actually seen someone who invested all their money while the wife would just work her 9-5 and spend her money as she wanted, just to have her divorce that person and take half of everything.

and recently, I've been spending a lot of my free time reading books on investing in real estate and listening to podcasts here and there.

For $50 why not, but be advised that whether you spend $50 or $2000 it’s not going to provide 100% protection.

If you would allow me to spend my two cents, I think I can help stretch your money a little farther.A lot of banks do want 15-25% down on the purchase price and will often loan 100% of the renovation on top of that. 

Spending $100 for a professional photographer may get you a higher monthly rent or fill the vacancy faster. 

Best advice that was passed on to me was to make sure you spend a lot of time getting this number right.

When you see a vacant or derelict property, write down the address and spend some time scouring county records to find the owner and approach them.  

And he said he would give me my deposit back to dissolve the contract , get the money from the insurance and spend it.

She got herself evicted over it, I got my life threatened over it (which she then had to spend months dodging service for a restraining order over), had to continually travel back to Colorado for court dates after she moved out of state and now owes over $20,000 back to me/my lawyer over it.Last I heard, she was still living in a travel trailer, having to move every 30 days because the eviction on her record is her third one and nobody will now rent to her.