The biggest mistake I made in my RE investing career early on was being so conservative that I only bought homes for cash, i.e.

It would be a big mistake to pull the trigger on a property in an area like that.

My mistake was locking in the 30K for the furnishing and construction to make into a “better” STR property.

We all start from somewhere and you learn and grow from your mistakes.

Rents tend to rise over time, amortization steadily increases equity, incomes rise, so the investor has a lot of “cover” for unfortunate timing or operating “mistakes”.Number 2 - periods like 1932 - 1941 and 2008 - 2013 are much harder on this strategy.  

Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

I think finding someone to work with is going to be a great way to build experience and avoid beginner mistakes. 

You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.4.

I work for a property management company, so I get to see a lot of rookie mistakes from the outside looking in.

Worse mistake!