Most banks are reducing their branch count, since more and more banking is done online these days.

Hey Rich, You missed a close ] after url, but no biggie, we can copy & paste :DI would love to start branching out to other areas, I just don't think I have the necessary capital (and time) to make it happen right now.

I'm originally from Minnesota as well (North Branch, near Forest Lake), but couldn't handle the cold so after college I left for the West Coast.

I'd say start where you are comfortable, get some early successes there (and keep your mistakes small and recoverable), then branch out when you feel ready.

I am a licensed agent and have partnered with a large group on a couple of flips, had a couple of rental SFR rentals before "The Crash" and now I am ready to branch off and do this on my own, or much smaller team.

This website is great, you can learn anything on here and ask all the questions you need to.Edguar hit it dead on when he said you need to focus on one aspect of real estate investing and then branch out, I could not agree more as of now I am building my business in Webster, Texas and I would say the first thing you should do is learn your market!!

We used Pacific Coast Title (Westlake village branch) for our current project. 

As others have posted, if its a local or regional bank, walk into a branch and demand (respectfully) to be put in contact with someone in REO or Asset Management.

At this point I'm looking at mostly rental investments but I'd like to branch into fixer uppers once I get a better understanding of market trends and what it actually takes to own more than one property.

Suggest you look for one that has branches in the Northeast Texas towns: Canton, Sherman, Paris, Tyler, Lufkin, etc.