@Kearsten M Higgs seems an option here  https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/517/topics/1186880-join...

I joined Last year when the market was not great, and all investors stopped investing and I stated invested after learning techniques and underwriting.

Would love to join any discussions in Tokyo going fwd.

There are about 2,000 members in the local REIA which charges $20 a month to be in, and I know of several other investment groups that are over the top charging upwards of $20,000 to join, but who is "Actually buying"?

I am going to sign up for a boot camp, I joined BP PRO, I am reading forums.

In my case, it was the only way to get started, doing it part time because I didn't have the funds to go all in full time for a full year.I have always been a solo agent, so I struggled the first two years to get clients, if I would have joined a team I would have had to go full time but I would have been making less than what I was making as an elementary school teacher (70k) because teams take a good chunk of your commission.

Networking and making connections can be achieved by attending local meetings and joining Facebook groups.

Join groups that talk about investing, learn about your local area, make a list of buyers, and find ways to let people know what you're doing.

To build trust in real estate investing, start with learning from books and podcasts, online classes, and by joining groups at local events, real estate meetups, and online chats.

Welcome to BiggerPockets and thanks for joining!