The things that come to mind are;1) If you are buying a starter home would you consider giving the upstairs/main (better) suite to renters and increasing your cash flow?

Are those the main savings to them, and the main cost here is the 1% fee on the 2.45 Million.Thank you,Doug

That has become our main strategy that we use and like @Jason Dillard shared, it is more lucrative and less hassle to manage.The way we use this model is we buy properties under market value that are below the median home price for our area and then we fix them up where our all in is 75% of the ARV and then we put them on the market for 5-7% above current market value on a 4-year option.The key to using this model is the contracts that are used.  

Mainly, focus on being honest and real with sellers and seeing how you can help them. 

So the right choice is probably some version of move forward, but with caution.

Anyways, the main point of this post is that I would like to start networking with local investors to learn more about getting into real estate investing.How would you guys recommend I do so?

unfortunately the three people i had come out and look at it said that by repairing the driveway they would likely cut the main root of the tree and kill it. 

Do you mainly do multi-family?

I have only recently began running a scope down the main drain line and I will do that on all new purchases. 

We got a lot of feedback from potential tenants in that market who were looking to stay under $1000/month including most of their main utility expenses.