I am in the beginning stages of my RE endeavor and I'm looking for local RE groups or associations in the Philadelphia area.

I'm still in the early stages of my search, so anything could happen -- this is just a discussion that came up as I talked to other people I knew, and I wanted to see what the consensus was.I've gotten some good thoughts here so far, so thank you all!

Maybe it's too early in the stage but appearance can make a world of difference when talking to a client or showing up at a meeting with a possible finance partner.

I agree that a lending relationship is the cleanest, but you have to ask yourself if you need him, or want him, at this stage of the game.

It looks like they are still in the early stages of the process with that 2nd buyer as they just ordered a survey and requested loan payoff info from the seller.

The Platte river is still in flood stage in Weld county.

Honestly, I'm at the beginning stages of state-specific research so any information or insight is very helpful.

There are areas in my market where subtle differences in housing style, school district, elementary school or location in the neighborhood have significant economic effects.

We are in the early stages of what will likely be a long negotiation, LOL.

@Jeffrey Kovnick so if you are trying to figure out at what stage of recovery is a given market, you can do a few things here: IRR (Integra Realty Resources) puts out an annual publication that talks about the recovery stage of a given market (http://www.irr.com/Publication-PublicationList/Index.htm), as does ULI (urban land institute) with their annual report (http://www.uli.org/wp-content/uploads/ULI-Documents/Emerging-Trends-in-Real-Estate-Americas-2014.pdf).