As far as local goes, i have been monitoring craigslist and the closest place to me (3 hours) that i have been seeing any "we buy houses" ads are in little rock. i have two other target areas about 45 mins from me and i don't see any of those ads for these areas.

The closest thing would be ridiculously priced fixer upper.

My favorite investors group is also the closest one to you the BWI Meetup.

Curious, where is the closest REIC to the 1000 islands?

The closest one to DC is the one in Gaithersburg I think.

It seems like it would have to be but the closest one I have found is in South Jersey.

I'd recommend joining the ones closest to you, networking a ton, and learning as much as you can!

Travis,I know you made your decision, but as a general rule you always want to chose the term that is closest to how long you will hold your property.

I recently seized on the closest thing I could find to a deal -- which is would have been a pretty good deal even back in 2003 but is nothing close to what I could have done in 2010 with the right cash at the right time. 

I'd suggest you seek a Mastermind with those in your immediate network and your closest business allies.