This HOA is a non profit and has no business credit. 

The certified public accountants prepare reviewed semiannual and annual financial statements twice yearly and the company provides them to interested accredited investors upon request and returning its privacy non-disclosure agreement.

We are seeing more non-local folks than ever at our meetings just like yourself; folks wanting to survey the landscape. 

I am new and firmly in the education stage of my future real estate career I have read some great books and have been listening to the pod casts non stop.

I have one major requirements for my property manager and that is he is to contact and use my trusted and vetted handymen for all non emergency repairs and maintenance calls.

The key feature in this case is whether it was an exclusive or not.If it was a non-exclusive right to sell, the seller was within his rights to sell to any other party.

It is not OK to brag about your non-existing inventory or customer base.

Can I also pay non-professionals to find me investors?

Based on what you said, I wouldn't do this for the first deal because unlike all those gurus say it DOES take money and a LOT of time to get it right.I'm sure there are other ways to find deals but as you can see non are "the answer" but there is a common theme there: you have to network with other peers in the industry.

@Blake Gansborg,My favorite non-text book about real estate finance is: What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow by Frank GallinelliI does an excellent job of breaking down different financial metrics and giving good examples.