Additionally, you might want to explore reaching out to your local Investors Group or BNI Group for recommendations.

You can search on the forums for lots of posts about how to determine class, some even delve into local criteria like asset price etc.

I have just joined a local team of investors as their Aquisition manager. 

I also host a local real estate meetup in Worcester, it's a fantastic opportunity to meet other investors, lenders, contractors and potentially find deals.

I've done some localized studies and the numbers of owner occupied buyers versus investor buyers in several of my current markets are 10 to1 ratio and as high as 25 to 1. 

Option 1 will require experience and is just there for illustrative purposes, 2 and 3 (in the absence of experience owning CRE) will require that the borrower be local to the property (if you want the best financing available on your first rodeo, stay local and stay turnkey, your lack of CRE experience is offset by your presumed local neighborhood level knowledge, etc, you can get fancy & still get good financing once you've got local & turnkey property #1 under your belt).

I’m focusing on virtual and will eventually start focusing in my local market NYC.

We are here to help each other grow.Get as much knowledge and experience as possible and find a mentor.Join real estate investment clubs.Get in touch with a local agent or investor and shorten your learning curve and save you a lot of headaches as they tend to understand the market better.All the best!

Our mission is to empower local entrepreneurs and investors to transform underutilized properties into awesome community assets that benefit all.If you send me a DM I can share more about our courses and free webinars.

Generally though, more protection is better than no protection.Also, I live and invest in the NWI area and I can refer you to a local attorney for LLC questions or help point you in the right direction.