Would love to meet more people.  

While this won't stop the Gen Y and Z crowd, I think it will make it harder for people to raise money, when a company with 30 yr track records are marketing right along side the guy with 2 yrs (for a similar type of deal).

Ok so a diff path then my previous post.I also wanted to invest in real estate but just assume( and bet is probably true) that most of the people that find truly good investments have  either or all of the following the most "average joes" don't:1.

I don't play around with other people's money.As for sticking to Gilbert or checking out other cities around Phoenix, I'm doing my best to look at every city. 

Getting that first property is exciting—and yeah, NYC is no joke when it comes to price of entry.Honestly, a lot of people I’ve talked to in your shoes end up finding better opportunities just outside the city.

I'm doing this exact thing right now- I've been pleasantly surprised by how many people in my network have resources, cash and interest in something like this. 

Real estate has so many tax benefits and credits available, that I always tell people it's crucial to have a CPA that's extremely knowledgeable in this area.

You also want to go to real estate investor meetups to get reps with people who do what you want to do.

I’m looking to network with people that help asset manage multi family apartment complexes.My business partner and I have grown to almost 300 units.

That's what the commission is for...It does seem like their communication is top notch - I've spoken to a few people from REI and they seem to have a decent business model.