We host an investor meet up monthly in Alexandria, could be a good place to start.

I would start out by only opening the first few months to see what hits.

Quote from @Jade Frank: Hi, I'm Jade and I'm looking to get started with real estate investing.

Start by asking for a pre-approval letter from their commercial lender—it shows they can secure financing.

Alternatively, you should start contacting private money lenders and/or hard money lenders so that when you find the deal, you are ready to go with acquiring the money. 

While you're focusing on building your capital, I recommend to start connecting with other investors in your target areas.

Theres one I think its by Brandon Turner that is called rent to retirement. when I was starting out I read one that was called one property a year that resonated with me.

When you are first starting out, you should probably buffer an extra 20% on top of your renovation budget to cover incidentals while you are learning the true cost of flipping.When you do all these things (conservative estimate of ARV, additional 20% estimate on construction costs, using a conservative 0.7 multiplier in your estimate), you are unlikely to lose on your first flip (but it will be harder to find your first flip).  

I'm trying to narrow down some options and do a deeper dive on maybe 2 or 3 of the best potential markets to see which one makes sense to start in. 

I'm curious to hear about your biggest surprise when you first started.