easy go to the Trustee sales  get Property Radar subscription and follow the NODS and the sales.. show up and sale and see who walks up and hands the crier 500k cashiers checks.. to buy a foreclosure those are your players.

Hello, I am a professional basketball player.

The guys that do this a lot and have success at it pretty much feed their inventory to the known players.. they don't need one offs or beginner investors.unless its a smaller market were there are no real players.I was in Philly this week with one of my clients and I would say in the under 100k SFR range he is one of the biggest buyers.. and his e mail is going constantly with wholesaler deals.. we drove to BALT together and I did the driving so he could work and he was negotiating.. it was not a take it or leave it.I did ask him I said since WE have all the money why do you need these guys.. why not just bring in your own ACK team and do it yourself.. 

If I suddenly decide to be a barber, pastry chef, pro basketballer player, it doesn't mean I can just do it.   

This step alone may take you 1 month if you don't have much time because you're not just looking to "network", you're looking for those serious players in your markets.After you've had a good buyers list built, then focus on seller leads.

Appreciation will eventually be a a larger balance sheet player than the property that brings a few extra (even thousand) dollars to your income statement.However- I just borrowed from a bank for the first time in 5 years. 

But when I am at these events I can tell right away that the majority have no clue and will never do anything.. but there is always those 10 to 20 students that walk out of there with the knowledge they learned and become players.. its just like anything real estate related.. 100% of people try RE sales or wholesaling and 50 to 90% fail straight away.. you have guys out there selling how to wholesale programs for 10 to 40k.. and that is even worse than the flipping guys.  

What kinds of key players should I be looking for?

In the last couple of days I have been watching a lot Kobe Bryant highlights.He was a basketball player and I am a real estate investor. 

William Tharp , go to your local REIA and see who the main players are in this space.They may be interested or you could reach out to a couple family offices or angels to see if they will fund the deal.Send me info on the project as well.