As a new investor I don't have much of an idea if these are good deals or not yet, but is there really a huge shortage of multifamily properties out there for new investors?

There is a significant housing shortage in San Diego.  

Of course, appreciation is probably likely in Austin, but you are also paying every month to cover for shortage of the cashflow.

Obviously there's no shortage of money to be made and real estate is big in most cities like Portland but I've had a hard time finding groups and other other investors to meet and talk with.

With vacancy rates already extremely low, there is going to be a shortage of rental properties and strong rental demand.

I had seen several articles regarding an affordable housing shortage in the area and EB just landed a contract for 5 billion dollars worth of submarines.

However, there continues to be a shortage of available homes for sale, and the homes that are for sale are priced on the extreme high side or are going into escrow in a matter of days, resulting in a need for rental units.A business partner of mine just recently purchased a 3 family in Western Massachusetts, remodeled kitchens bathrooms and re did the wood floors, ( all affordable renovations), and increased his rents by over 19%!!!!

My experience is that there is no shortage of deals, money, success etc. 

Great place to invest, especially for rentals as I've heard there is a huge shortage in rentals given the demand.  

I absolutely thought about somehow getting the money to buy my brother out because we were earning almost 3000 a month and the mortgage including escrow was only about 800 a month (and i have people for repairs so they aren’t too expensive), but the woman who was in charge of the duplex (living trust) while we were too young didn’t pay taxes and let the account accrue an escrow shortage and we started having to pay over 1800 a month just to catch up.