Getting a proper climate control environment is priority #1.

What high-value skills do I need to compete in today's working environment?  

A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.

I alerted “abuse at meetup dot com” as soon as I received the email and after I checked “Michael Treat Larry”s profile and some of his Meetup groups.Jay, I qualified my original post since I respected Joe Splitrock’s (moderator’s) sage advice.Note: In Canada one can get approximate mortgage rates of 3 or 3.5%.

They see finances and RE as some kind of black magic that, if they can just learn the right way to say "abbra-cadabbra," will make them rich...next month.I have all the respect in the world for folks who approach REI with humility and a desire to learn and truly understand how you can make money in RE.

@Ben Watkins70 / 30 is a very common split for financial partners / general partners, respectively. 

The manager was grateful that he didn't hire someone with such lack of character, ethics, and respect.

A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.

You posted a very general question, so here's a very general answer: if you're planning on doing a number of rehabs or owning more than one rental in a specific area, you need to build a positive, professional, respectful relationship with code enforcement authorities or they can make your life a living hell at any time with very little warning.

On top of that, the legal environment is not friendly to landlords.The saving grace could be that the market retains massive strength and property values keep going up.