They find a "deal" aka a lead, they then sell that "deal" aka lead, to an actual Investor who's actually investing. 

If you mean actually closing deals, I would say taking action and submitting offers, even much lower than asking.

You would need to structure the deal from a tax perspective that mirrors what's actually going on.

As I am new to this , I am not particular about what part of real estate I learn, so long as it builds a strong foundation so that I may narrow down what actually fits with what I want my future to look like.

I’m not entirely sure my sellers agent actually presented the offer from the wording in his response to me.

If you’re brand new and trying to figure out which brokerage to join, here’s the no-BS version from someone who actually works with investors and flips houses, and owns rentals. 

It's a huge pain tbh.Third, I wish more brokers actually had proper networks to take deals to.

Actually, yes. i can refer one out of Tampa that actually has a formal design degree and a ton of experience with not only residential and commercial interior design, but flip and ground up as well.

I’ve been reading and listening to a lot of BiggerPockets content lately, but I’d love to hear directly from experienced investors — What are your top 2–3 books that every beginner must read to really understand real estate investing — not just the theory, but how deals actually work in real life?

You can actually tell.