I want to eventually flip houses myself but need that bit of confidence and listen to the successful people around me.

Get honest with the city.. try to give little info and not incriminate your self.

Listen to Jason Hartman--he self manages some of his remote properties.  

The villages isn't bad per se, but residents tend to enjoy that they are tucked away from massive growth in their own community so the lack of appreciation is a bit self inflicted.

Cash offer funded by self-directed IRA funds.

Credit cards can be a great tool for building credit and reaping the rewards, but they require absolute discipline and strict self-imposed guidelines to be genuinely beneficial.Kinda rambled there for a bit.

To really have confidence to move forward you need to know the market.

@Kimberly Walton make sure you have a good resource for finding the deal and a PM if you plan to not self manage.  

Have been self-educating through multiple books, BP podcasts and forums, etc...I plan to invest in real estate as a side hustle. 

In my market, new groups came in and built some sophisticated car washes, leaving most of the self car washes to go out of business.