Am I looking for a partner or a mentor?

[Tyler Hardy]

I have been itching to launch my real estate investment future for far too long now. I have sedated on a number of different avenues to start with, from wholesaling, single-family, small multifamily, and large multi-family. I have been drawn more and more towards commercial multifamily (more than 5 units) and it's brought up personal questions I have to ask myself. The biggest question being, do I need a partner or a mentor?

I've been researching for years and run numbers on hundreds of properties. I've got a few ideas of markets that I'd like to look into, and even selected a few properties within those markets. While I've never invested in real estate, per say, I have owned three homes myself. This gives me the experience that I would need for a single-family investment but not necessarily a large multi-family.

I've been attending real estate meetups and trying to rub elbows with investors in the large multi-family space, but this has proven to be a challenge. So I thought I would ask the BiggerPockets Community for some opinions and insight. I have a stable full-time job which would offer me a better loan package then a new investor, but I don't have the investment credibility or experience that a commercial loan officer would require. Should I be looking for a partner to join up with on a deal, or a mentor that I can simply bounce information off of?

Just to tag some keywords, I would be interested in properties in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Jacksonville, Tampa, Daytona Beach, vacation rentals and Str in Panama City Beach, 30A, Destin, Atlanta, OTP, I've even found a property I'm interested in in Valdosta Georgia. If anyone has any insight or opinions they think I could benefit from, please let me know.