I have had no interactions with him except the posts in this thread.

Tenants today send me pictures and videos of issues without me asking them. 

While researching tiling over existing tile I found that it can be done and there are several videos on YouTube.

When you're out prospecting for deals, how do you interact with the sellers you find?

There are also countless podcasts, YouTube videos, etc.Learn all you can, then look to fill any blanks you have left over.Understand you need to be prepared for the long haul. 

Learn how to pull comps (don't ever mention Zestimate again) and get up to speed on the basics of rehab costs.At first blush, if homes are selling for around $385,000-$439,000 in the area, that house is going to need more than $50,000 in work.You'll need to do a walkthrough with a contractor, who will likely charge you for the estimate.There are lots of youtube videos on figuring out how to estimate rehab costs.

http://www.hikvision.com/us/Products_1_10649_i8678...Nice camera for not a lot of moneyhttp://www.hikvision.com/us/Products_1_10533_i7696...Products like SimpliSafe are good for live views checking in to see what going on around the property and generally the recording of these cameras are based on alarm activity but the video quality is not very good at night or low light levels.  

I have also been hearing a decent amount about using video for advertisement. 

I watched Brandon's youtube video using the 4 square method and my CoC Return was 40.4% vs using the excel spreadsheet punching in the same numbers but coming back 10% lower.

This should be done with a financial model, but really the nytimes has done most of the work for you here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/bu...Make sure you go over every input and check your assumptions.Most families in the Bay Area will find that the answer is no to the first question, while ironically the answer is yes to the second question.