We bought a house 9 months after our first offer once:)

I am preparing to attend their next meetup towards the end of the month and will continue looking for more ways to stay engaged.

$100 a month is not enough for a duplex depending on age.how well do you know this market?  

Our budget for reno was $65,000, 2 month turnaround. 

This is a good question.I found that meetups are kind of like you described not much really happens there and for sure REIAs and their monthly meeting kind of the same people talking about the same thing then bring in ( at least what i have seen with the PDX reia) folks that are presenting on things that worked decades ago.. and want to sell their stuff for a few grand.For me personally the best networking hands down was SF Bay Area events  San Jose Reiaand LA  FIBI events.folks in those markets are very real estate centric and generally more experienced and in San Jose so many tech folks that have done really really well.. maybe not in RE but have done great in TECH and have quite a bit of bandwidth for investments..

Because that property didn't quite fit my portfolio profile, I re-sold it 5 months later for $375,000. 

Purchase price: $178,000 Cash invested: $10,000 primary home own use has an Airbnb/ short term rental 5 months out the year/sometime this year will try BRRRR

Rents are obscene in my area near Traverse City.  1br1ba's are pretty much a guaranteed 1k a month. 

Generally, most DSCR lenders will want a 1.00 Ratio or higher using the PITI as the monthly expense.

Hi Rosette,I saw your post from a few months ago and hope your investing journey is going well!