"Chuck in a truck" is cool.

I recently finished it and can say that it is slammed full of awesome tips for people looking to invest in zip codes outside of their own. 

I greatly appreciate the response and tips/advise. 

There's a cool meetup the 2nd Saturday of every month that might be perfect....no sales, just a bunch of people in similar positions as you trying to figure it all out and sharing resources.Have you started looking for properties to house-hack yet?

Also, there are plans to develop the train station into a transport hub (including eventual high speed rail). thanks for your advice :)

Then I called with Republic, and the VP I was talking with was also a new investor, so that was cool, but the best he could do is a 20yr amoritization, with a 10yr ARM and then a balloon payment.   

The trash out guys will tell you they have cleaning people, but its usually some guys girlfriend or wife, and not really trained. 

Many have posted a few great tips already, that's the cool thing about this forum ;-)That said, I highly recommend using the awesome tools provided here on BP to learn the basics of analysis and underwriting.A few tips to get started and your continued learning:Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area.Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you.Read Beginner’s Guide.Check out BP Podcasts.Find upcoming real estate events and meetups near you.If you'd like to tag someone in the conversation, type @ followed by their name and then select the name of that person that appears below the comments box.

Just looking for some tips and possible some contacts that may be useful.

I am with Keller Williams and it is great for training and learning new things.