My last offering was has been a real challenge and Matt has stuck with it for over a year.Never swaying from his commitment to me and my success.You need to be willing to take his advice and work hard but his stuff works.I would whole heartedly recommend him to anyone who is serious about raising private money.

BiggerPockets also has a calculator to analyze deals, and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.

Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Is there a good website theme template to use that anyone can recommend?

I would recommend that you get out to local meetup events, as that is where you will make the really deep connections to help you get rolling. 

Does anyone have any referrals for a plumber that can replace polybutylene water lines in a house, and then possibly a recommendation on a contractor that can do the patchwork after the job?

@Raiyan KhanYou can search these forums for vendor recommendations but you can also join a real estate investment club in the area you want to invest and get the same info.

.- I recommend avoiding condos. 

Also, can anyone recommend a reliable company for this?