Having said that, life is not all about the money, and as others have said, spending some time and effort to help another person experiencing a tragedy can be as rewarding to you as it is to them.

And as for your #2, you are right, specifically the Bigger pockets podcast, hence why I use their forum to ask questions. 

Bigger Pockets has allowed me to see that in a numbers driven game, there are still lots of great people, you just have to find them.  

Most episodes of bigger pockets mention value adding But often with minimal advice Is there a book , podcast episode , different podcast that can be my guide for the best approach to value adding I’m about to buy my first live in rental property

Some of my money, some financing, father is the GC (which makes the full-gut across the continent not as scary a risk as it sounds).Spent two months wondering why no one would take our money for a house, once we figured out what worked, we suddenly realized we needed to think a little bigger (was doing it all my cash, now I'm good with some leverage).I've got a nice w2 that I'd love to dump for half the salary, if I could generate it, but I'm thinking that might be many years from now.Anyways, I'm heading to Atlanta Wednesday morning through Sunday morning. 

Feel free to ask any questions in the bigger pockets community!

With a bigger down payment (25%) your cash flow will increase some.

Originally posted by @Ken Breeze:@Dakota Deno there’s so much awesome stuff on this website and forum, it’s mind-boggling.Welcome to the Bigger Pockets tribe!

Spending a few hundred dollars for access to successful people is really nothing in the bigger scheme of things. 

@Costin IorgulescuAs I noted, if investing in rental property will produce better results in terms of risk/reward than continuing to invest in the stock market only, then it is the right move.There is no apples-to-apples comparison between you personally investing in real estate and your IRA investing in real estate, just as comparing you investing in stocks with personal funds would also be very different from you investing in stocks with your IRA.