Establish a relationship with an investment-friendly realtor. 

It's encouraging to see someone else in the same boat.I also live in Washington and have been thinking about establishing a community investment group.

If you want to establish a long term relationship with someone who lives eats and sleeps creative financing and loan products - I recommend getting in touch with a well-versed broker who manage the relationship and introduce you to competitive products in the market.

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

Even when we manage to reach a working voicemail,owners often assume we are just another "we buy land" serviceoffering far below market value.Given thesechallenges, we are eager to learn the most effective strategies for locatingpotential sellers and establishing a professional, trustworthy connection thatencourages serious consideration of our offers.Telephone/voicemail is informal, hence casual, hence “we aren’t putting much effort into this.”

Also, not sure what relationship you have established with your property manager but typically people hire managers to take care of this part and be tenant-facing.  

If the tenant fails to establish their own policy, enroll them in your renter's insurance policy and charge it back to them.

If it’s verbal, they’ll need to document any prior communication or payment records to establish the relationship.If the PM is completely unresponsive, they may want to send a formal written demand for communication and payments via certified mail.

Established agents are too busy to host open houses and they have leads coming in from previous sales and referrals.

I understand that starting out, depending on how fast you want to build your portfolio, you could spend a lot of time at it.For those with established investment portfolios, how much time is required to maintain it?