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.

Lastly, your going to want to get with local governance, a lot more then normal.

I'm currently looking for a flip locally - within 30-45 minutes of Lancaster, PA. 

We sold 3 locations that had little debt on them with great cashflow, stayed heavy in cash, our stock return was only around 11% versus 25% since we went conservative, have two projects banks have already greenlighted with no downpayment on our part using cross collateralization with other properties- built in $2.5mm equity creation in 3 years in those projects, on hold for now.  .   

While they offer great general advice, they can't speak to our market, or the potential of a property located in Scottsdale can provide if held. 

I've also signed up for New Orleans REI meet ups in the upcoming weeks in hopes of making valuable connections in the local market. 

There are many people on this site pushing those locations that have not historically kept up with inflation.Btw I advocate all newbies start local even if their local market has not kept up with inflation.  

I am considering getting into this space (looking at some courses), but worried that its too late, and that deep local market knowledge/understanding of buyers/connection with developers etc is required to make this work, which only incumbent/long term investors will have and would be hard for a new entrant starting from scratch to catch-up...is my hypothesis valid in your opinion ?

There are surely STR Facebook groups for this location.

💪 Start by networking with local investors and wholesalers to find deals, build relationships with contractors and lenders, and analyze numbers relentlessly so you don’t overpay.Stay focused, take action, and don’t be afraid to learn as you go!