You just have to know where to look and how to put together and negotiate a compelling offer, or have all cash and find off market deals.

Danger.A few years behind the likes of Demographia, the Economist and the IMF, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has decided to sound it's first Red Alert.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/the-mar...http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cmhc-red-warning-h...and the opinion piece which pre-announced the revelation:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/...When Polloz is compelled to raise interest rates to follow a rate increase south of the 49th, things will become interesting.

New multi-family seems to be a big trend in the valley right now, especially down Knik Goose Bay Road and the core area around South Wasilla (sometimes referred to the Gateway area).  

GREAT content there.As for local networking, I highly recommend COREE (http://www.centralohioreia.com).

Real estate is project-based and entities are generally set up by project instead of by issuer save their core set of entities.  

COREE (www.centralohioreia.com) is a member group you can visit with a free pass to check out before you commit.

Core is the better way to go during a downturn, and Realty Mogul and Crowdstreet tend to offer those types of deals.If you're doing debt, do lower LTV with less rehab plays in tertiary markets.

Performing energy efficiency retrofits of our properties is core to our operating principals, so we try to utilize these programs when available (even if the program is more show than substance).

You might want to check out COREE since you're new to investing--they have lots of informative meetings that'll fill up your learning curve nicely!

Technology speeds up the process and brings efficiencies, but at its core this industry is just a 21st century version of the real estate syndicates of the late 80’s.