What I'm hoping to find: I'm hoping to make connections, for mutual benefit; this could be investor friendly agents who have experience with identifying promising house hacks, investors who are looking for an additional financial partner, investors who are looking for a partner to help manage the load of projects (I am naturally drawn to planning and execution), and more broadly anyone who is willing to share experience and create new connections!

I am considering to do 1031 exchange into one of their projects.

Contractors play such a huge role in real estate projects.

Be very careful with this as a first time project! 

After the project managers left, I sat there and just talked about real estate, family and what he has done to amass 60 multifamily units in the Memphis area.

Once you feel you've built a strong team with your first property and have solid systems in place, I would then start buying more aggressively and taking on bigger projects.

Be mindful of the harsh winters and short construction seasons, which can affect project timing.

The particulars of a project, whether fix & flip (cash now), fix & hold (cash flow), rehab & reboot (cash out), is only one of many ways lenders decide whether to invest or not.

The art is in accurately projecting numbers, which is notoriously difficult.Forget complex investing strategies as someone new to RE. 

Best of luck with your project!