They are putting on an educational webinar on the topic of SDIRAs and real estate (the title of this post) and I wanted to see what people's opinion of their company was. 

BP did a great webinar on how to evaluate markets and a couple key things you want to look for are population (is the area growing?

Right now I'm educating myself as much as possible: reading every REI book I can get my hands on, listening to the BP podcast, I've attended one BP webinar.  

I recommend you attend a free product demo webinar so you can see if it's right for you.

I have watched the 90 day challenge webinar and have been reading posts on BP nonstop. 

Keep your eyes and ears open for any calls, webinars, or presentations in regard to the fund, as this is an excellent opportunity to get to know the team and the strategy on a deeper level.The fund manager is in charge of all aspects of the fund's day-to-day operations, allowing investors to invest without being concerned with each transaction made through the fund.Benefits of Investing in Real Estate FundsReal estate funds often provide higher than average, consistent returns, that are independent from the stock market’s fluctuations, further proving that investing in real estate is a dependable way to generate revenue and profits over time.

You came to the best possible place to grow your network and knowledge base before your first property.I'd recommend checking out local meetups, BP webinars, and BP books.

I came across The Flip Coach from a National REIA webinar when Ryan Kuhlman was President of NREIA.

My 6 month goal is to create a strategic real estate investment plan,  build my foundation of knowledge via BiggerPockets podcast/ webinars, and continue to save (I will have 60k cash to invest) My one year goal is to make my first real estate investment purchase.This is very vague, although I am currently reading Brandon Turners book “Rental Property Investing” and creating my plan to be much more detailed and intentional! 

You said you live in Austin, no better way to learn than directly so, there is a syndication group Viking Capital LLC, that is buying/raising for a 252 unit property in NewBraunfels, about 45 min south of Austin, watch their webinar at their website below and they have an 82 pg slide show as well, then take a 3 hour trip to go see it, walk the property, go into office ask about the units available/leasing how the market is from the office staff, look around for quality of property/deferred maintenace needed then drive the area for other competitor properties.