Quote from @Serena Lemmons: Hi All, I have been researching real estate investing for a while and feel like the next step is to meet some investors in the area that I can learn from.

I set up a meeting with high hopes that this would be a good way to purchase my first few properties of section 8.

The problem (as you have cited) is trying to understand what you need (you don't know what you don't know), where to get it, qualifying its source(s), and the validity and usefulness of all that.Pardon me if I've gone into this too much, but I meet many people with the same concerns that you are voicing and this is offered, as much as possible in direct response to your post.Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions. 

This guy's name (Mario Cotto) came up as a red flag at our meeting last month.

We went back to the first offer and let him know that if he wanted to meet the second offer, then we would sell it to him.

I would have loved to have tried to meet up with him in person (if his schedule would have allowed).

Great to meet you. 

Looking forward to meeting like minded Real Estate Investors

I am interested in connecting and meeting wholesalers or investors in the area.

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!