just to clarify, when I say smaller deal i meant $1MM below and larger I meant $1MM to $3MM (what I'm focused on). so even at that larger scale (to me), i'm still mostly dealing with individual sellers instead of companies. 

I know it is a large area I'm asking about and I'm open to suggestion, e.g. 

But, here are a list of questions you should ask whether you are investing in SFRs or large multifamily:How long have you been in business?

I do realize using historical returns to predict future returns has some risk but you are not proposing placing a large amount into an investment all at once. 

Getting to one million is more than possible, you just need to start somewhere and then scale accordingly. 

I'm located in the San Diego area, and am open to either small or large brokerages.

Additionally I like to evaluate the financial health, capital reserves, and property condition of the association to try to understand whether a large assessment is looming.  

I have a couple investment properties myself and I'm a CPA at a large REIT so I can review your numbers, as well as offering feedback on location, price, etc.

If you know any (or are yourself) large apartment, self storage, mobile home park, etc. syndicators in the Bay Area and Los Angeles area, please reach out to me as I'd love to go out for coffee and learn more about you and your firm.Cheers all, and hope to meet you.

But I do want to take this seriously as I don’t plan on scaling skyscrapers and beating my body to death until I’m 60 years old.