We started training our team on how to provide exceptional customer service and started renovating every house to an almost retail and above level. 

With my skills in home renovations I am investing in multi-family properties in the Des Moines area.

Here are the numbers on the deal: Property Details 1.Condo in 4-condo building.2.3 bedroom, 1 bathroom 3.2-level. 3 bedrooms and bathroom all upstairs4.Laundry closet5.900 square feetPurchase and Rehab DetailsBought for $95k (including fees) all-cashSellers paid $50k in property back-taxes to bring property to good standingHad to get a bond because there was a small loan against the house still on title and the note holder had since gone out of business and could not be located.Rehab ended up costing $36k.

Sounds like you have a lot of the natural skills that make for a good start in REI.

I had the idea that perhaps with my plethora of skills that instead of finding the hourly job first and perusing real estate second, I could be of use to some one local and marry the need to pay the bills and start gaining experience.

if its in the lease, you are most definitely supposed to turn the a/c on regardless of your comfort level the same way a lease may state that inside temperatures cannot go below a certain threshold in the winter.

There are a host of different level apartments in my area from highrise to old multi-family victorian homes.

It's networking on a national level...on a lunch break or in pajamas on the couch. 

They currently own a 5 br/2ba house in which they rent out but on the same property they have an apartment building in the back 2 br/1ba and on the top level n probably can turn the bottom level Into 1br/1ba.

A lot of people have that much debt on their primary residence.I’d say pick up 2-3 more with mortgages then start paying them down.OR if you want the higher level of involvement, build cash to start using the BRRR strategy.