Also a Sacramento native here... if you're looking for the 1% in northern California, you're probably going to have to consider a fourplex in the not-so-nice area of town.

There development going on all over town.

Ive currently allocated about 5-10% of my investment fund to explore crowdsourcing related platforms...an amount I personally feel comfortable with, knowing it can be a higher risk environment.  

We are going to check out a live auction to try to learn the ropes before we explore that avenue for deals.

Newer inventory like attractive locations will bring more ROI due to having your inventory close to where everyone works in small town Athens TN

Never tried any of the rest, but might now that I had to write them out and think about them. 1) Go to every architect, interior designer, top real estate agents/brokers, loan officers in town and shake hands, drop off do-nuts, take them out for coffee/beer and do it regularly. 2) Hit every REI meeting in town and offer to speak at some about the multifamily and spec building process. 3) You may consider joining and participating in whatever local business communities you are in. 4) Offer referral money to subs. 

@Joshua Hawley I am in a similar position and have been exploring areas like Hawthorne, Inglewood, and Long Beach.

Hey Travis.If I were you I’d go to the nearest college to where you are currently and make contact with a few college students who don’t live in dorms and ask them if they’d give you the number to their landlord.Target college towns when buying fix and flip or fix and rent properties and buy within 10 minutes of campus.

@Ali Boone Cheers - not sure of my budget just yet; I'm used to having done traditional lending through banks and don't have much experience cash-out refinancing yet, but currently reading up on all that stuff and exploring options.I'm actually from Charlotte originally so I would feel a little more comfortable investing in the city....I think for OOS I would prefer something more turnkey at first unless I was very confident that I had good contacts (contractor) "on the ground."

I'm curious to know if anyone is investing in the shore towns along the Raritan Bay from say, South Amboy to the Atlantic Highlands.