Newbie in Virginia looking for advice

[Crystal Robens]

So I'm trying to up my game as far as investing in real estate. I have flipped one house that was a "learning experience" (aka I basically broke even lol). Another with a small profit. Then I house hacked by having one FHA mortgage in my husbands name only so we could take out another in my name only two years later. So we still own his - it's a house and a guest house - both rented.

We are looking into multi-family and hotels.   What I have going for me - a Class A Contractor’s license, a healthy W2 salary (I’m an engineer at a “think tank”), a little bit of experience, and about $25k or so in the bank for my next investment.  And I have fancy degrees in finance and economics and a real estate investment certificate from Harvard if anyone cares lol.  

What I have against me - no commercial experience.  A totally over-leveraged credit profile (fancy school student loans ain’t cheap!)  And not a lot of cash money to invest (wouldn’t feel comfortable with more than $25k-$40k).   Essentially no network except one amazing realtor who has been on this journey with me for 20+ years of me buying crazy fixer uppers :).  Yeah and broke-*** family members who would be happy to help if they weren’t all broke.  

Advice?   Specifically - I know I need to expand my network.  Where’s a good place to do that?   What has worked for you?  Other advice?  I don’t know what I don’t know...