Looking for REI Mentor in Vancouver, WA (or Portland)

[Armando Neri]

I've been on BP for a number of years, mostly in the shadows learning and focusing on my career. I'm in a position now where I've saved enough for a down payment (and then some), and have officially started looking at duplexes with a realtor. I'm also pre-qualified with a lender. After walking through a few properties, I realized that the barrier to entry in Vancouver can be quite high (BRRR strategy). So much so, that I found 2 properties that (I believe) would have been solid deals but I needed to inject more capital than I have at this moment. 

Now, I'm going back to the drawing board and rethinking my strategy. I'm not sure whether to wait a couple more years so I have ~$100k in capital, or if there's a better strategy that I'm not fully grasping yet. I'm sure it's the latter.

I was hoping that I could pick someone's brain on this, maybe partner on the first deal. I realize there are many ways to skin a cat and I'm going to make mistakes on my first deal. I'm excited to learn from these! But I also realize that my first deal can be a strong catalyst for my REI journey.