The way one would become an appraiser is to take, depending on your state, 75 to 80 hours of pre licensing education, pass a couple of super easy tests and then you'll need to find a certified residential appraiser willing to take you on for at least six months, usually it's two or three years, in order to gain the required work experience hours.The problem is finding a certified residential appraiser willing to bring you on as a trainee.

Unfortunately, these opinions are ubiquitous and facts/data are my preferred choice of input to make an educated guess on the direction of the market in the future. 

There are almost as many approaches to real estate as there are people, and that’s why education is really the first and most important thing you should do.

They are all sound guesses with number and data to back them up but at the end of the day...its just their educated guess.

Outside of bigger pockets, what are the best books and resources to educate myself on the short term rental avenue.

In the mean time, continue educating yourself and don't give up!

The contractor needs to either be properly educated on the 203k or have verifiable experience with the 203k.

I’ve been educating myself on the basics of investing but I could use some community help in finding some smart people in my area with more experience. 

Thank you to this forum for providing some amazing education.

It goes into depth at explaining how ARMs work and how each borrower must be educated on them to ensure they know what they are getting into.Here is a link to the CHARM BookletIf the lender you are speaking with isn't disclosing this to you, I'd read the booklet and drill them on these very critical points of the loan and probably ask yourself if this is the lender you should go with...Cheers!