Come up with a few hundred in campaign contributions and hire a lobbyist and maybe you will get invited to the party.  

I'm finally diving in to this great community to meet like-minded investors, to contribute to discussions and to get started on my REI goals.I'd like to focus my investing strategy on buy-and-hold while still working my full-time job.  

I don't have much new advice I can give since many people have made valuable contributions so far. 

I appreciate @Ryland Taniguchi contributing, @Keen Chung Lo, he's a true expert in the field of real estate, recently appeared on podcast #171 and does everything from new development, to out-of-state turnkey rentals.By the way, your profile says you're from Shibuya, do you have some special connection with Seattle and the Beacon Hill area?

If not, you can partially fund it initially with the 1st month's rent and then do a monthly contribution until you meet the reserve you're comfortable with.

@Dennis VanHouten sorry to clarify "count the rent when calculating the gross income and cash flow"...do you mean you count your rent contributions towards gross income/cash flow?

This forum is an amazing place and I want to thank everyone that contributes.

Hello everyone I'm fairly new in real estate investing,my wife and I attended one of does 3 days seminar with legacy education and we are correctly both leaning the basic of investing in real state, I was reading an article on investing and some of the comments was very positive about Bigger Pockets and their free beginners investors programs, I'm hoping to find information and helpful tips that will enhance my knowledge and better understanding of the business, so that I can grow and contribute with the growing support of investors worldwide... thank you everyone in advance for all the great information you are providing throughout this media.

I am doing all of the project management, though - so I am looking for some advice about how to best structure how much each one of us gets given the amount of time and effort.Also, in terms of the rehab funds - I thought we should each contribute to an account that is dedicated to the rehab of the house (or get a HML, if possible) and just draw down that account for the rehab and holding costs.Thank you in advance for any and all suggestions.

It's at the Unurban Cafe in Santa Monica on 5/14 this month.