I am not super familiar with your market (although I'm sure it's similar), we have a ton of local Chicago real estate investor meetups.Getting to those things in person changed my life, and I was able to connect with mentors, experienced investors, and a lot of good people.

We host a monthly REI Meetup in Woodland Hills and there are many folks in our group grappling with similar scenarios.

I just got an email yesterday from a real estate broker looking for a release on a property under contract on behalf of the borrower. 

I am new to the world of real estate investing and am eager to get started.

When I started buying real estate I just did the buy and hold strategy.

I've read Michael Blank's book: Financial Freedom with Real Estate Investing and have started to do some research on markets I want to invest in. 

Particularly on larger balance CRE (Commercial Real Estate) this rate improvements can lead to a dramatic increase in activity and investability. 

For commercial sized apartments, the asset and the income coming from that asset are the real security behind the loan.If you are syndicating a deal, inspections are included in costs covered by partnership.  

The real estate agent just walked the house with an investor.

If you want to look for an investor focused brokerage or team in a brokerage I'd recommend looking for meetups in the local area for real estate investors or potentially other investor focused agents in the area, you can likely find both of these with bigger pockets (depending the location).