I'm hoping to gain valuable knowledge... for that thanks in advance.I am in the process of acquiring my very first rental property.

You'll pay capital gains tax on it if you don't do a tax-deffered exchange to a property of greater value

Glad to see there are a few members from our small state:) I close on selling my first property in two weeks and boy am I glad to chalk this one up to gaining a great deal of learning!

That part of Vermont should garner you some great tenants, relatively cheap 3-4 family properties and be within easy reach for personal attention.There is a REIA meeting trying to gain some traction in your area as well.  

I spent day and night on this site gaining as much info as possible and once I had all of the pieces in place, I froze.

They are BY FAR the best resource for newbie Real Estate Investors to gain a wealth of knowledge in the shortest period of time.

I have 700+ credit and still finding ways to increase it, but I need to start reading books to gain more knowledge and networking.

For example I may struggle with fixing up my own property so at the moment I am volunteering to help my property/building manager fix up the apartment building I am currently living at and gain some experience in this part of the field. 

I have FINRA series licenses, all of the information you need to pass the tests to obtain those licenses is available for free on the internet, but that in no way means I could have passed without paying for an expert service telling me what to study and how it was weighted.

It helped me gain perspective on the industry as a whole, and decide what my particular niche was going to be.