I have no real estate experience of any kind other than buying my own houses (with agents).
I'm reading "Bulding Wealth One House at a Time" by Schaub. Although it's really poorly written, it's informative, and it has me thinking about a lot of things.
In the book, Schaub spends a lot of time on alternative/creative financing, finding bargain prices via non-standard channels, negotiating tricks, lease options, etc.
Is all of this really necessary to get started owning and renting houses? I understand that I'd want to do things as efficiently as possible, and that all of these little ins and outs are going to help, BUT is it not possible that I can be a successful landlord just buying a house the "regular" way like most other schlubs?