A stable rental history with provable income sources is what drives our decisions, much more than past mistakes.

sounds like it was probably your mistake by not doing your due diligence before signing.

I applaud you for taking the leap, even if you feel that youre making inexperienced mistakes.

I know this space has gotten pretty hot so I want to educate myself the best I can before I make any big mistakes.  

This one thing can be the costliest mistake you make if you buy a property intending to short term rent it and then find out you can't run it like you'd want to.

(and a lot of hard work, marketing spending, networking, thinking, strategizing, hiring employees, organizing, talking to people, making mistakes etc) But it sounds a lot better just saying 2 pieces of paper. 

:) Read the forums, listen to the podcasts like you're already doing, ask questions, read some more, dive in, make some mistakes, learn, and grow.

Most new investors make the mistake of waiting too long to start the eviction process because they are afraid of the cost. 

I want to be successful so very badly but I just don't want to make a mistake that's going to cost me loads of money.

As a first time buyer, I'm thinking I should be learning my mistakes on a smaller property such as the SFH but having said that, am eager to get some real cashflow moving and start banking decent profits to purchase further properties.Regards,Colin