I'd also chat with a hard money lender, that could be beneficial in landing a deal, given the amount of cash you have available- ive used rehab financial group on the mainline- and would recommend them.Lastly - delco is extremely competitive - jump on Mls leads ASAP, as they go quick- I wish you luck.!

When asking how they started they all said their grandparents came to this country with no money and saved up and bought one rental and slowly continued acquiring property amassing a mini real estate empire.

@Will BarnardFrom reading your posts, I consider you a level 10 investor and you may very well have the exceptional talent and skills to identify homes in the Inland empire, Santa Clarita / Valencia area that can cash flow better than the average homes in Atlanta.

You name it in land lording and I have probably been through it.I have the knowledge, experience, intelligence and ability to manage my properties, but I don't LIKE TO DO IT.

Just empirical data, but it says a lot to me.

@James Woodrich  well to answer your question about anyone who invested before 2008.. that be me.I was basically retired by then.. but then the crash  rentals went poof loans went poof.. developments went poof.. commercial buildings I had that were great my tenants were going banko.kind of depended on the area some areas likeVegas,  PHX  ATL  FLA  central CA  Inland empire  in urban areas of most MSA's they all got hammered places went vacant.. many multis got below sustainability and or loans were due and had to be called it was a nightmare.. long standing billion dollar real estate firms like Opus from your area TOAST it was all across the board .. some areas not so bad others as stated huge wipe out.for me I lost millions.. and first to admit .. but then I did not lose my ability to get whence I came I just retooled and went after it again.. so that was when I was 51 when that happened now I am 61 and about back to where I was and frankly like many in our business after your second or third wipe out you get stronger.. so for me now and I know its Totally contrarian on BP but I am debt adverse have  very little and have no interest in quote un quote good debt.. there was NO good debt back in 08.just ask all the new syndicators that are doing these deals where the deals came from last crop that lost them or did not have the money to properly maintain them.. and investor that bought with 100 cash flow max debt I ended up owning about 250 of those homes from those that I foreclosed on that bought under these exact same scenarios your all talking about.so that's my experience now I am MR> Blue sky and I am not predicting a 08 wipe out by any means but as one ages and lives through that nightmare ( and one of the few of my peirs that did not get totally wiped out and did not BK)  I am just way more conservative now..

I'm looking forward to meeting people who are eager to start investing in Real Estate like myself, so we can all help each other build our mini empires . 

After 30 + years as a real estate investor, private lender, speculator and small developer, I can tell you that many of these hyped systems CAN lead to a highly profitable deal - but - the requirements are always understated by the promoters.Almost all these "systems", which are actually very common deal types to experienced investors, require the following to be implemented successfully1- A good deal of cash or access to such (not including mortgage money on property being acquired)2- Significant directly relevant experience (much, much more than what can be acquired through purchase of the book, seminar or mentoring system)3- Deal analysis and deal making skills4- Time - to spend on finding, negotiating, performing due diligence on, etc. potential deals - usually at least 20 hours per week.5 - Persistence - to evaluate 100 potential deals, talk with countless people, make unlimited phone calls only to have 99% of your work lead to a rejection.This is why my empirical evidence suggests that the satisfaction rate of those that purchase these systems is way under 10%.

You are looking for empirical evidence that you just can't apply across the board. 

You've got a great start towards having a solid empire!