In order to play in California you need a ton of money, in markets like ours you don't. 

LolIn a hot market, they will let you go if you play this....

@Mickey PowellIt sounds like you're going to be able to leverage his team for higher end renovations, so I'd play to that strength. 

But I'm thinking that I want to get my real estate license first to get my feet wet a bit, get a feel of the market and then once I have a little bit of play money, get into investing.

Until then, play the game by the rules and you'll do well.My $0.02 ...

Austin would be my place to go if I was moving out of town probably because of my harmonica playing.  

Zachary Sit success is being able to play hide and seek with my 5 and 10 year old and laugh with them.

I have a solid stockpile of cash to play with.

If the goal is the long term play and money isn't a worry, it is more about the structure and content you are going to push (having a plan for it, frequency, content), rather than exactly what company you use to do so. 

Hi Gus - thanks for the post and the link, I'll check that out.I always look at capital as another piece of the expense pie and weigh out the cost of any and all sources of capital vs the cost of the deal, the management (to hire it), sales costs etc.In my 22 years in real estate, I have never seen this much capital playing the game, it's everywhere.