For the most bang for your buck in terms of time commitment I would say listen to all the podcasts.

We are not in it to make a quick buck, but to at least make a buck after paying ourselves to do the flip. 

Whilst I have matured greatly since being a child, and I have developed a more detached and practical perspective on money now, I continue to nurture the burning yearning to have and create the visions and dreams that I want for my future, and not be stopped by a lack of capital or creativity.

But don't just look for the quick buck - this is a long game and to be sustainable you want to take your time with first deal especially in an area like Bergen County where you can graduate to more upscale neighborhoods too.

Luckily the first house is easy to rent and the income is close to covering all the expenses but I still throw a couple bucks at it every year.

A plumber over to look at something else told me i would have to run pipe (im on a slab, so concrete would have to be broken) to each unit, and install a water heater in each unit, or about 4000 bucks in my case, and the local company would check the meters.  

I was leaning more towards renting because there is some construction going on around my neighborhood that should raise properly values over the next few years so this would allow me to continue to own the home, continue to accrue equity, and make a couple hundred bucks extra a month on top of it.

The self-education you can do that would be most bang-for-buck would be understanding "ARV" for places thoroughly.

If yes, maybe you can save some money.If I'm doing math right, it looks like Home Depot typically charges 10 - 12 bucks a square foot for the measure/fab/install.  

One approach to avoiding a quiet title action is paying the prior owner a few bucks to quit claim the property to you.