Go to BUILD YOUR TEAM at the top of the screen and look for local investors or meetups in your area.

To get started, connect with a knowledgeable real estate agent and lender, practice analyzing deals, and network through local investor meetups.

I strongly recommend getting involved with your local REI meetup groups so you can work out your pitch with help from other landlords.I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way without tone or facial expressions behind it. 

In my opinion, an in person meetup > an online connection.You may want to consider making a connection here and meeting up for coffee or attending a real estate networking event.Best of luck!

Contractor – This is one I really need help from the bigger pockets community in the local area. 

Figure out a question set that helps dive into their expertise as investor-friendly agents, ask about their experience in the investment real estate space, and have them send you a few properties that could meet your goals to show that they can provide quality properties for your to analyze (hint: this is also good to see if they overpromised on their market [ex - Raleigh for cash flow]).Also with the new lawsuit, any agent that knows what they're doing will require you to sign an agency agreement prior to viewing a home.

Meet ups could be a good source too since you’re in a big market. 

@Jason Khoury I purchased my current residence, a duplex, from a local non-profit about 5 years ago.

We go to straight to sellers with our marketing the prices our better and the ones that meet our criteria we keep for cash flow and the ones that don’t we wholesale.

I'd start with attending local investor meet ups.