It forced me to reach out to developers, to engineers dozens of local builders and most important like minded individuals.

With that in mind, my first idea was to buy a condo or a house in my local area (Palm Springs, CA) and use it as a long term rental. 

I refinanced it into a  5% 30-year mortgage with a local bank as the seller would only carry the loan for a year.

I would like to speak with local investors, real estate agents, property managers, lenders, etc. from the area.

I’m not local, so I’m trying to get a feel for what it’s actually like making deals in this market right now.

In The Tampa Bay Area local investor in the items inside the home/business but looking to get with the right people to build a team.

I suggest you start out by meeting like minded people and here is a link to a local meetup in the OC: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/1225233-ocre...Good Investing...

We have tried multiple local collection agencies, and we have not received a penny for over a hundred thousand dollars of bad debt submitted to them.We keep hearing, "It takes time" but it's been well over a year with the most recent one.

I've spoken to a few local attorneys and they have never heard of that.

Consider your investment strategy—house hacking, turnkey rentals, or real estate syndications—and start networking through local meetups or BiggerPockets forums.