Most importantly you need to convey confidence and assurance you are a player and not just wasting their time.

I know there are players in these area who need to park their money somewhere so they buy property, outright, in cash.

New players that don't know what they're doing are overpaying for properties.

I still struggle with why people would select a stranger over a close friend, who has demonstrated competency in the industry. 

For example, it could be rented or used as a second home.A mailing list broker can help make suggestions for some newer motivated seller lists where you won't be competing with multiple investors mailing offers to all the same people. 

TCS and REMA are two solid and major players in Property Management in Philly.

Before you even get to those questions you need to seek out who the bigger players are.

I am a 20 year old basketball player at Ohio Valley University in Vienna, WV, and I've decided to make a career out of real estate investing.

It is hard to do syndication if you aren't familiar with and sort of demonstrated to your investors that you have some level of competency and know what you're talking about!

I can recommend some hard money lenders you can evaluate.A key player on your team will be a contractor you can trust.