There are plenty of free videos on YouTube of people teaching how to do this.The key thing to remember is that no one, not even a RE Pro, is going to just hand you a killer deal on a silver platter.  

You won't be teaching them (either the agent or the bank) a lesson by letting the deal fall through only to punish yourself by not getting the deal, assuming you still think its a deal. these mistakes happen all the time, and a mistake requiring a $30 overnight shipping fee doesn't rate too high on the blunder scale based on things I've seen in my experience (these happen all the time!).

Teach me!

I work full time now Monday through Friday so that makes it a little hard.Any ideas for weekend work that may teach me more about the industry?

@Chad WilliamsSave or borrow money and hire someone to teach you.

its no different than me teaching someone how to trade for a living, no offense but you make it sound like people in general are cynical in nature

on the other hand, you gain valuable experience.my goal is to minimize the amount of time on the project as much as possible. doesn't always work that way though. :)if it's a hobby, then I don't really consider the time involved as long as it doesn't interrupt your day job and the wife is okay with it. lol

If you're not making at least 3x the rent in gross salary, there isn't going to be much of a cushion at all.On the other hand, if the issue is just that they simply don't have enough guaranteed income to meet that 3x times rule but more than likely are making more (i.e. due to the wife's substitute teaching income not counting), then thats another story.

So when my first opportunity came about with an out of state contact that was not only going to help me get my first deal done but also teach me everything I needed to know about lease options, I forced myself to take action.And I didn't just do ONE, I did my first FIVE, and was THRILLED I was finally a real estate investor!

This is my first multi-unit and it is teaching me a lot.