I would recommend you begin researching Chicago based meetups as there are a bunch of really good ones.

Anyone you can recommend? 

Tim, thank you for the book recommendation.

If you have any tips, resources, or advice for someone just starting out, I’d greatly appreciate your insights.Some specific things I’m working on right now:Building a strong buyers list.Identifying motivated sellers and honing my outreach.Learning the ins and outs of structuring win-win deals.I’m open to partnering, collaborating, or just grabbing coffee to exchange ideas.

Here's a list of things to track:- Formal lease application- Formal signed and executed lease specific to your state- Payment history (I recommend using online rent collection like Apartments.com, RentRedi, etc)- Maintenance requests and receipts- Accounting for all rental-related expenses (repairs, utilities, etc) The more you treat it like a business, the more helpful you are to your CPA come tax time. 

@Tyler Koller, we use QBO for all of our Clients but I don't recommend it as a PM software (since it's not that).

I also recommend not allowing unaccompanied showings if at all possible.  

@Brett Baker I would recommend reaching out to @Josh Green.

Of course we all have to start somewhere but I tell everyone I do business with regardless if it's with me or someone else I always recommend them to build a portfolio.

I highly recommend them!