Be very careful who you take advice from online, you should get involved with a local attorney and a local realtor.

Attend your local REI meet-ups and try to find someone who is currently house-hacking or has house-hacked in the past to learn from their experience.

Being a subject matter expert, not because you are forcing it, but because you simply ARE, shows through, and investors are rightfully attracted to that. 

We're working with a mortgage broker local to us and he has put us in contact with Lendbase as well.

It would be best to befriend a local contractor or even help one out on a job to see any differences from your past eight years doing it in another country.

Detroit requires strong local relationships to navigate things like neighborhood nuances and property management effectively.

The key difference, though, was he spent months carefully getting to know the local architecs, reputable builders, and even a couple of niche design firms that specialize in modern builds for mid- to high-end buyers.

@Nadia Jones Starting and running a fund is a separate business because it's something that you need to actively market for and regularly work on attracting capital to invest in. 

Quote from @Gregory Schwartz: A local agent recently got sued for calling an old client who was on the Do Not Call list.

They often have different vendors introduce themselves so you can build your team and they often have a local member do a case study on one of their properties to share the ins, outs, ups, and downs of the investment.