I have been enjoying my time here so far and am seriously considering pivoting my practice to tailor it toward real estate investors.

Says its very standard practice to have this done.

I even discuss our property renovation & addition plans with him to get an opinion for ROI from a market partisipant.In the long run, a good relationship with your personal RE agent will provide the benefits I've outlined above as well as access to the "good" deals that never make it to the MLS and connections into the RE inner circle (without the overhead of networking and schmoozing).I'm always looking for ways to maximize the expertise of my RE agent(s) and ways to reward and pay them without cash coming from my pocket.

Newbie here - this is one of the first deals I took a look at but unfortunately it required a lot of TLC and was too far away to be practical for me to work on it.

Look into amazing tools and resources like:Weekly webinars:https://www.biggerpockets.com/webinarOr the forums, or great guides and books:https://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investin...https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/01/3...https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/01/0...http://get.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook/Or you can analyze deals to start getting practice before you actually jump in:https://www.biggerpockets.com/flip-analysisI would also suggest you look for local Real Estate Investing Associations or clubs meetings to begin networking with people in the industry.

Please do not confuse my business practices with traditional business practices.  

If you haven't already, look into:Weekly webinars:https://www.biggerpockets.com/webinarOr the forums, or great guides and books:https://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investin...https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/01/3...https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/01/0...http://get.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook/Or you can analyze deals to start getting practice before you actually jump in:https://www.biggerpockets.com/flip-analysisI would also suggest you look for local Real Estate Investing Associations or clubs meetings to begin networking with people in the industry.

My experience included purchasing 2 personal residences and managing one of them (after I transferred and could not sell) though an awesome management company in Jacksonville, FL.I'm sure you probably know by now, but I would recommend to practice running the numbers on a few properties in your target markets and based on your strategy (buy/hold, flip, etc) to get comfortable with that before your return.I also intend to get my real estate license before my return through an online course (I believe that if there is a place where members can take college classes on base, they may be able to proctor your RE exam).

I am listening to the podcast daily and practicing deal analysis with some spreadsheets I found online.

I have my license and practiced actively in commercial brokerage for a few years before leaving the firm to focus on my investing activities along with others.