33K in student loans, about 11k on plastic (wedding/honeymoon/school), plus houseMy experience in real estate is limited to spending time with my grandfather growing up.He had several rental houses and would always be working on them.As I grew up and paid more attention to the business side of his work I realized that he was working just to stay busy and not working to create more income.His end goal was always to create more income but he was always distracted by the job of remodeling and updating.He has been my mentor and main father figure for years but now it is time I “upgrade” to someone capable of guiding me in the direction I want to go.I will always love my grandfather but his business sense is not one I need to follow.My goals in real estate are to create a “four hour work week” (gotta love the Tim Ferriss way of life) by a combination of buy and hold and flips.I hope to use this method to create a stable business and then move into apartment complexes.After lurking on this site I have learned about the different rules needed to ensure profit out of each.In my farm area there are many MLS deals that fall into these numbers.Now it is just about raising funds.I would love to find some Sub2 deals.Famous FourFavorite real estate book Never read one.Bigger Pockets Favorite business book Poke the Box by Seth Godin, 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, and No More Mondays by Dan Miller Hobbies include working on cars and spending time with friends and family.These are very important to me and I do not get enough time with my desk job with either.What is thing that sets apart successful investors from those that fail Getting back up on the horse after failing and not letting friends and family tell you that being an investor is a stupid idea.

Then you have to know how to raise capital, and what do to deploy it safely and profitably.  

Few tactical steps- Get involved in local REIA meet-ups and see understand what other investors are doing and how are they raising money- Get an insight which areas are good to invest where you can get decent cash-flow- Spend time driving around the neighborhoods as you know San Diego can be very expensive and I am sure you will find units at higher end and lower end.- With all this you get an idea of what you have niche for wholesaling, rehabs, rental etc..

I might be able to raise the rents a touch after these leases are up.Thanks for your help.

After you have done a few, then you can lower the percentage your raise is, like 10-20% for contingencies and cost over runs. 

The median home price is around $275-280k, but materials and labor for rehabs are much higher than "normal" (a good price on a shower install is $4,500-5,000 and it can cost up to $1,000 for a simple window install).I kind of feel like if I'm going to raise the money to buy the property in the first place and go to the trouble of taking title, I might as well just do the whole project.

I live in a small suburb outside of Detroit, Mi but I was born and raised in Detroit and I am very active and familiar with the city.

As for the primary, take 50% or so of any raises, overtime, bonuses, etc and pay down the primary. 

In the meantime, what should I be doing to raise my worthiness as a property manager?

How many of you have a RE license 3/4 of room raise's there hands.. then the next thing I ask is How many of you are Private Lenders about half the room raises there hand :)