@Lane Kawaoka nicely put - I am also a mechanical engineer with a masters in management , but by the nature of my job i have 1 as well :-)I have looked at passive investing , but for that return i have other options and am not comfortable entering in to real estate I am ok to loose some money , if i can learn - everything i did the first time - it was a flop - except love ( was lucky to find my sweet wife ) and my career ( chose the right one the first time )

We steer away from low income and master our markets once we go in.

This becomes your master lease/rental agreement for building your RE empire. 

Master leasing a property with landlord permission to Airbnb full-time even though you're never there.

These are my areas of “masters study” where I could targe the areas of real estate that I wanted to learn, even though they don’t quite equal the credential of a Masters.

(the house in that neighborhood are selling for $220k move in ready). by spending that much to fix up the kitchen, add a master bathroom and a laundry room will that increase the value of the home, and how much of that $55k can I deduct on my taxes. thanks.

Taking Action is the most important part of investing.You are thinking in the right direction that making a decision on the timing of your investment and the market you invest in is your first action.My first property was a house hack - I bought a three bedroom house, lived in the master bedroom, and rented out two rooms for $600/month all bills paid.

Additionally I will update the Master Document of the Lease to include unpaid utilities is equivalent to unpaid rent. 

I have had toilets take 15-20 minutes to install, and one toilet took me almost 2 days... same house, same brand of toilet, one in the master, one in the guest bath.

We have both master and individually metered properties and master metering is terrible for financial performance.