The beauty about real estate investing is that theres almost endless possibilities you just have to network with the right people and understand the risk of each deal.

During the time you can network and learn the area.

I've been to some local events when I used to live there (2020-2023) but I tend to like networking 1 on 1 more than at events. 

My biggest advice is to start investing where you have a good network of people you know like and trust...this especially holds true if you will be investing out of state.While it's not impossible to go straight to the commerical I personally found it easier to start in the residential world and then make my way over to commerical multi-family. 

We stopped wholesaling and ended up just networking better with wholesalers and putting more offers out to find better deals.The BRRRR process also has its challenges due to being out of state.

I see this is posted in the house-hack forum so I'll make the assumption that you want to owner-occupy your next investment.To work more hands-on, you'll want to spend time searching for deals, analyzing deals, and networking/building a team.Before your property search, I'd recommend speaking with a lender to find out how much you'll qualify for.

Its ALL about your network.  

I went out to Memphis in late July to set up a network of agents and contractors.

Would you recommend hiring CPA for planning right off the bat for first property?

You will also need to talk to a CPA to make sure you won't owe income tax on that $31K.