Is this a forum to meet outside investors that would be interested in doing something above? 

If your goal is to help your mom, you can purchase a property for her through a 1031 exchange and rent it to her at fair market value to meet IRS guidelines.

This would end speculation and bring you a lot of credibility.Please post a deal that meets the criteria you claim you have "tons of examples" of. 

I’m here to learn as much as I can, meet like-minded people, and get advice on making a solid first deal.

Hey Kolby, Nice to meet you!

I focus on finding deals that meet specific criteria, and I always keep my underwriting conservative to make sure the numbers work even on a worst case scenario.Right now, my big goal is to land my first property, ideally 20+ units in Florida, and build a strong portfolio from there.

Your job is to keep tightening it up (geographically and based on asset type) and meeting investors until you have a buy box that makes sense for you.There is also no point to running deals through a calculator if you are seeing them.

At that point, it's worth researching and finding a solution that better meets your needs.

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

You can also check meetup.com or search Facebook for real estate investment groups, clubs, or meetings in your area.