If all prospects and leads come from yourself, then you are operating your own business.

Find the REIA group for your areaAs Henry noted, post something specific for your area and tag your market.Get on Loopnet for your area and property type, reach out to the brokers that are listing deals and offer to take to coffee (they are often invested in deals too but you could ask for connections to other operators that might be getting started).And, again as Henry noted, each person you meet, ask them what other networking events they have attended that you can put on your list.

One thing I always remind people is it does not matter what is on a powerpoint presentation, the deal is dictated by whats in the PPM, operating agreement and subscription agreement. 

I feel like it's a space where great operators can really clean up, since the bar is set really low, in my experience at least.

What I love about Baselane is that it was built BY real estate investors FOR real estate investors so it's really dialed in to what you're going to need in order to prepare your taxes, keep your books up to date and the more operational aspects of being an REI like tenant vetting and processing rent payments.

It's just not how successful people operate.

I’d love to hear more about how you approach finding these under-$2M properties and what strategies you’re implementing for operations optimization.

My job is to thoroughly vet the operator, analyze the market and analyze the deal - then I send the wire and my job is done. 

To structure a partnership, consider forming an LLC where you handle property management, renovations, and operations, while the investor provides the down payment.

I have some flexibility but rely heavily on my team for admin work and the day-to-day operations of property management.