Check out Brian's book The Hands-off Investor on sale THIS WEEKEND for Black Friday.

Managing your own property and finding tenants is a great way to gain hands-on experience.

As a beginner investor based in the Seattle metro area, I'm eager to learn from your experiences and share my journey as I get started in this field.My current strategy is to focus on live-and-flip for the first three deals (looking for my second deal) to gain hands-on experience while building equity and learning the ins and outs of renovation and the local market. 

I actually had come across your post below in the Events forum and thought to myself it would have been nice to attend that to see first hand a local flip and talk shop about the process.https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/1215682-chec...I am happy to hear that someone with your experience in the region feels that Westchester is a market with some potential.

I already have a hand shake deal on the next property, another duplex, that I will buy come summer time.  

They know what buyers like because they’re in showings all the time and hear that feedback first-hand.

Investing close to home allows you to gain hands-on experience, learn the ropes, and be more involved in the day-to-day.

How long are you usually spending on prep before you hand it all off to your CPA?

I know the area like the back of my hand and believe Indiana has tons of upside to invest in.I came from a low-middle-class family of teachers.

Still can be very beneficial for a new investor but personally I think not as good as a service as they had with their exclusive listings where they had inspections already done, rent rolls available, and you can complete the entire offer/acceptance via their platform rather than being handed off to an agent.