I have found my private investors by the following - personal friends, local meetups, real estate conferences.

In his defense, I could see the value in his product but do not in many of the guru's products; I'm not a sucker.

The IMN Single Family Rental East and West conferences are always great opportunities to meet with the most active residential rental experts in the country.

Sometimes it’s defense too.

@Basit SiddiqiI have a CPA and have used one from 2019 forward because I work overseas as a civilian defense contractor, so I need the assistance of a CPA to handle the FEIE as well as the K-1.

Cash flow is defensive; you need to it hang on to the property, but leverage + appreciation - forced through renovation or just general market appreciation - is how you get outsized returns in real estate.

I started speaking at real estate and note conferences and realized that the people that were teaching note investing had absolutely zero credit background themselves.

Cash-flow is a defensive strategy at best (I don't find it very reliable; unexpected CAPEX, vacancy, etc.). 

If RE is brand new to you, I would focus on playing defense:1.)

That distinction is important for one very important reason, the asset decisions are being made by the owners (or a direct family member) which eliminates a layer of defense for all these decisions.