But I gave up the home run to make a VERY HEALTHY payday for about 10 hours of work total.

I am running a business , I am not out there to make wages ,I am out there to make a healthy profit .

I generally try to get at least a 15-20% discount off ARV when buying off-marker properties, but it has varied over the years.Hope you are staying healthy and safe during these crazy times!

These are the sellers OFF market that may accept a healthy discount, but these houses come with issues that may be cheap to fix or may be very expensive to fix.

It's something to watch 3...6 months from now, no one is immune to this (excuse the pun).I don't expect everything to be business as usual even when the death rate slows, there will have to be cutbacks by corporations and professionals to compensate for the losses.

I have a healthy amount of capital saved to begin investing, and will be using this next year to keep building my funds and continue my research and learning process.So my question is this:If you could start over (or are already using this approach), would you choose a real estate related profession to give you an edge with your investing?

healthy markets in ALL the major MSA's of the US are a plus.. 

People love to make landlords and/or STR operators the "bad guy" and ban the short term rentals (see Boston, Cambridge, Somerville) but when they make AirBNB the bad guy, they (gen pop and politicians) dont address the real problem which is no new construction and major limitations in zoning or redevelopment.There is a way to have both STRs and a healthy housing market, but the problem is everytime someone tries to modify a dwelling or build a development all the NIMBYs pop up and kill it and then complain that rents and prices are going up. 

Stay safe and healthy.

The down-stroke is the market is in a less fevered growth rate at this time, which is healthy, but nurf's appreciation a bit.