RE is a very tough business in any manner.. and whats happened in the last 20 years is the internet and the fantasy that anyone can get rich at it with non of your own money.. while this can happen..

I am out of the country currently with limited access to the internet, but if you add in vacancy, repair, capex, utilities, taxes, insurance ect it is very rare to find a 2 flat that will cash flow.  

You can get 99% of all knowledge in the world through the internet and a library card without spending a dime.  

@John Howdyshell  simple you  DO NOT find PRIVATE Lenders on the internet.. simple as that.. they are people already known to you. anyone on the internet is doing it for a business and therefor is a hardmoney lender.. resign the fact that you need to find a true HML.. or simply spin your wheels.in My case my realtor that I use in Charleston and her family made the loan.. so they were known to me.. plus they get the listing LOL and its a 600k house.

Most networking events with the big players happen in the daytime here and doing something as simple as delivering materials can offset a day or 2 of contractor work because I'm at the office#3 I love my tech job, but I'm not used to being comfortable for so long, its unnerving#4 I could try to change jobs to something that is more interesting, and could improve my negotiation/facilitation skills, but it would likely still not be my passion as much as real estate and training others...Plus it has more overtime potential (moving from programmer to business systems analyst would be my next career thought)#5 Realistically, I could only probably start out with 2 small deals with these funds and still have breathing room, and it would obviously be a gamble.

We will also be eliminating electric, water, trash, cable, internet, etc.  

I've been scouring the internet and BP for as much education/information I can find for several months and figure I'm as ready as I'll ever be. 

Procedure for real estate listing contract as far as time duration and the ability to sell myself thru the internet. 

Come this time we were set that we were going to sell come summer time as the market was still hot and we really didn't want an investment property on the side of a hill on septic that needed about $25k-$50k in work to be top notch.Around March I started marketing by word of mouth, Craigslist and some other places on the internet, we were not going to use an agent as I knew homes were flying off the market if appropriately priced.

WrilyPlenty of free knowledge on BP and internet in general.