I want to learn and get as much experience as I can.

I think long term it can make sense especially if you can 1031 exchange into something down the road.  

Time is money—choose someone who can execute efficiently without disrupting your revenue.8.

I have been on BP a long time and maybe about eight years ago , a person had a small chance of finding a posted house for sale here that can be flipped.

You can find a lot of meetings on the MAREI calendar, both MAREI's meetings, local landlord group meetings and a few other meetings hosted by our members. 

Step 1: Ensure you can get financing (is it a cash purchase or will you need a loan). 

Quote from @Simone Montague-Jackson: You can house hack with up to four units.

Financing your second property can be tricky since lenders may only count 75% of rental income toward your debt-to-income ratio, so get pre-approved early.

There are a lot of different avenues that you can take to make this work.

Out of state investors can do really well here, but you can also lose a decent chunk of money if you buy wrong.Lots of out of state investors, especially those from California get a little blindsided because everything here is so cheap it all looks like a guaranteed great deal.