Building a reliable network of contractors is one of my main goals for this year to help me scale up moving forward.

One thing I did note is my insurance is $3K a year lower due to the monitored fire suppression system in these larger properties versus my smaller properties that sleep 12 or less built close to the same time.As someone who has lived in Illinois twice, the politicians there don't care if people burn as long as they can tax and spend. 

Also, its much cheaper to send a larger volume of street view postcards or letters using a large printing company than it is to send through deal machine.

From what I’ve heard, they’re fantastic for networking and picking up local insights.

Bigger Pockets is a great place for education and networking. 

Networking is always a great idea.  

Networking with local investors and building relationships can also open doors to joint ventures or mentorship opportunities.

You don't need to pay for a network.

You should definitely be able to find decent multifamily properties for under $200k, and multifamily would be my suggestion for starting out if you can swing a larger down payment (depending on loan type, you MAY need 10% more for a multifamily vs a single family, but not always).

Funny enough, after making a few calls to my network in Scottsdale, plus tapping into a couple of connections I’d developed through some late-night investor meetups, we found a buyer quicker than he could polish off his morning espresso.