I have been part of a regular meetup for a couple years now and it definitely helps ground you in your local market.

I have a few brand new homes popping out of the ground in Canby Oregon.. msut of Portland proper is very old the new builds tend to be skinnies or expensive . 

When my business partner and I were still flipping we bought a couple through Auction.com and we always used a private money lender to fund those and our other flips. 

He told me that he owned a couple large mobile home parks in town and that's what started everything for me.

You will appreciate what a couple of month of effort and education can do for your credit with very little financal output.

Rates are also better with these than with an investment loan.There are a couple of investment loan programs available that offer 10% down as well with no PMI, but they have slightly higher rates.

JeffWe lead a couple investor meet up groups in person and live stream about the Central Ohio real estate market.

I've had to use Craigslist a couple times in a pinch because I didn't know anyone local and needed pictures asap. 

I'm out West at the moment, but will probably be returning to Tokyo before too much longer.At the risk of being contrarian, after picking up a couple of investment properties in Japan (one Tokyo, one outskirts), I shifted to a strategy of only investing in the US. 

What's your schedule look like in the next couple days?