Bob in San Diego is also interested in properties in Eastern Virginia

[Robert Christiansen]

I am new to Bigger Pockets.  My name is Bob Christiansen.  I have no real estate experience beyond purchasing the three homes I have lived in and getting loans for same.  I also have a sister, retired, who had a career in new home sales here in the San Diego area.  That is all I can claim as real estate experience.  Although I am of retirement age, I am still working (federal employee) for the Navy in Information Technology.  My passion for data has caused me to search the net for information about real estate investing, and I find Bigger Pockets to be an excellent source of that information.  My goal is to create a family business of investing in homes and renting them, preferably to professional workers who are in a career that can require relocating (e.g., military officers).  My primary partners would be my sons, and this would be a way of leaving them a working inheritance.  One son is in San Diego, the other in eastern Virginia, so I am interested in both markets.  But I am especially interested in learning more about eastern Virginia, because I am clueless about things agricultural zoning, septic tanks, oil heating, to say nothing of legal/financial transactions, which may vary from what I am familiar with in California.  For example, how can I find a realtor who is not just interested in selling me a house, but can clue me in on what is important when evaluating property?