Kenji, I'm an out of state investor living in Brooklyn and an avid Bigger Pockets consumer.

People should really pay attention to the kind of content they consume, especially the mostly negative and scary news that is oftentimes biased and ultimately leads people to not take action and miss out.

I'd be happy to connect you directly to my client's at different price points who've made the jump into a primary with hope of doing owner occupied airbnb.

So this is probably not the most efficient way, as it is very time consuming, but for lighter rehabs we go on home depot website and find prices of the materials we will need.

@Christopher Tanner I would be interested in something like that from a consumer standpoint but also from a development standpoint possibly.  

I would love to connect with like minded individuals who've invested in rental properties and started off with a buy and hold strategy.  

In the circles I am running in, those who've been practicing IBC for many, many years now, do actually have these policies and (a lot) of real estate as part of their portfolio often acquired by leveraging said policies. 

Hey Karen, I've got a list of PMs and Contractors as well as Lenders who've been a big help for my investors when acquiring properties.

remember your first home is not your forever home, it's your first rental so it doesn't need to be everything you want.look for homes where the bones are good, but cosmetically needs love. don't by pre 1960 if you can help it. you'll end up just having to replace all the guts like plumbing and electrical at some point. it's inevitable. look in areas where the path of growth is headed, but might not be currently. think 5 years out. look for resources like your local chamber of commerce to see what businesses are coming in and where. your city planning office should also be on your call list as they can help show where most permits are being pulled for development. follow the money. go to local investing meetups. crowdsource local knowledge and form meaningful relationships. those who've gone before you typically will help out and help you avoid the mistakes they've already made. onward.

Real estate investing can be time consuming and hard work especially in the beginning but once you do a few deals it will get easier and you will learn ways to make your real estate investing much easier.