They also dip harder in bad economic markets because of the vacation home aspect, so you have to be able to weather the storms (like right now), but there are better deals as well.

When choosing an agency to hang your license under it's important to compare all aspects of the company.

In one aspect I think BRRRR because I bought the property with some distress and since got a HELOC and fixed it up.

I think with many aspects they overstepped their bounds even with the bad data we had a month ago, but it certainly called for more than the current numbers do.

I loved college for the social aspect, but putting that aside in a financial crunch, why not spend a fraction of the cost and get an online degree?

A motivating factor is that I am not satisfied in my legal career and enjoy many aspects of real estate.

Many CPA's are knowledgable about the various aspects of real estate.  

Look at the various aspects of flipping for example:  you need to understand the construction trades; you need to have some program/project management capability to keep the job going; you need to have some sort of feel for market valuations; you need to understand something about financing unless you have lots of cash; you need to have some math and accounting ability to make sure you are making money, etc... 

Finding an agent that you are comfortable with is a huge aspect in being able to take the step to invest out of state.

The part that I had missed is that they are amortized often over 25 or 20 years, which brings down your principal much faster, so by the time you refi, even at a much higher rate, your payment is not so different, because your principal is lower.Another interesting aspect is that rates become negotiable with lenders when you loan sice grows into 7 figures.