Looking for mentorship and partnering

[Jill Johns]

Hello fellow BPers! While I (we) have been on BP many times, I don't tend to post much because when we have questions, I'll search some keywords & usually find the question has already been asked at least a million times before & I don't want to be a bothersome repeater to those who are experienced here. This isn't to say that I completely understand all I find and I know my searching (& not posting) goes against the whole idea of networking and engaging, but I want to ask intelligent questions that aren't asked daily here already.

There is a wealth of information here & I've been very grateful to find BP. However, Dave & I are at a point where we really need to get our feet wet. We are currently working with a bank, where we used to live in Ohio, on purchasing a duplex there.

However, we would also like to start doing some investing here locally... near Sebring, FL. We've got a couple leads currently on some FSBO's, which is more action than we've been taking. I feel it's pretty safe to say that I've got analysis paralysis and I think that Dave wants to do everything right so that he doesn't cause me more paralysis. We'll get to where we want to be, I know, we've just got to be patient.

We have a SDIRA that we could partner with, but being green, I told Dave I'm a little unsure about starting right out of the gate partnering with that since I really don't know much about this process and what we're doing. I would feel so much better if we could find someone who we could partner with and learn from along the way, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. And maybe, in turn, I could partner the SDIRA to help them out on a project... there's got to be some way we can find to be able to help someone in return, even though we're newbies.

As far as I've been able to find, there is no local REIA... the closest one is about 75 NE of us (which we have joined and gone to most of the meetings since joining). This REIA has been very helpful to both of us, but working a full time job sometimes makes it difficult for me to be able to make those meetings on time.

Can anybody offer suggestions as to how we might find more localized investors to meet with? I've heard Josh on the podcasts mention Podunk, WA (frequently) as being Brandon's home... seriously, I have always felt I lived in a Podunk... even before we moved south from Ohio.. .so it's a little more tricky to locate certain types of people in these more rural corners of the world. 

We're open to any & all suggestions... or possibly this post will find it's way to someone local.

Thanks, 

Jill & Dave