I'll keep a closer eye on this holiday season to get a better feel for how the market actually changes....

I recently got a position in a real estate office, but I realize that my eye is still on rei.

I believe my experience in construction gives me the eye inspect a home and see it's potential, manage a project and not get walked on by my subs.

The key is to make the property a "don't want it" property in the eyes of the IRS.

Wrestling with the various categories, running your own metrics in Excel, and matching things up with Schedule E at tax time will open your eyes to all sorts of operational details you might otherwise miss.As you grow and add more properties, there are some great cloud-based "rental property tracking" solutions available at very reasonable monthly fees.

throw in multiplication and division and they get cross-eyed.  

Yes, these are just some anecdotes, and I believe we will be in the ascendant phase of this cycle for some time to come, but I do think it's interesting to a) keep an eye on the canaries, and b) listen to everyone's position.

@Andy Wu, as @Scott Trench said, get to know other experienced investor, get familiar with your "farm" and keep an eye out for Wholesaling.Perhaps you can start by being a bird-dog for investors.

Read through her story, so you can get an idea of what to keep your eyes out for.

There are investors down there already pounding the pavement and have keeping their eyes and ears open on deals there.