I'd recommend joining local meetups. 

Does that mean the actual manager or a local contact.

Not sure if this is helpful, but I am local to Columbia, SC and have interviewed a few local companies which all seemed horrendous.

Reward in RE prices for risk of course.As for horizontal I get mine from local community banks ..

I have a close associate with a large project there and the local banks have turned off the spick-et on funding his developments and these are very large multi thousand acre deals.

@Kieran Collings - I'm an investor, flipper, and own and run a local property management company.  

.: Go to GET STARTED > EVENTS AND MEETUPS at the top of your screen.

If you're investing in real estate out of your home state don't you have, at minimum, a Realtor, Contractor, Property Manager, Lawyer, etc. in the state where you're looking to create a local presence?

Also planning to get into REIA Club events in the Dallas area.

If you're targeting a specific market, I suggest connecting with local investors through meetups.