Managing the property yourself can save money, teach you the ropes, and give you firsthand experience dealing with tenants and operations.

I do not know PL too much but I know it is the most popular for small unit count operators. 

Sounds he’s not interested in going through the rent up stage and being an operator.

Are you doing the work yourself or what is your plan on tackling the operations? 

This approach will help preserve your operating capital.

I just mean to say that I don't think there is anything wrong with their business plan, their operational expertise, and so on, so unless something melts the economy down, it seems as though Brian integrity of the operators is the only remaining variable. 

You get an operation running well and then you can be benevolent.  

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.

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.