You reinforced my impression of the local market.

Already helps a lot if you're bringing a deal to the table...

Is this the best strategy?

This is not the place to cheap out over a few hundred dollars.Lots of lenders and virtually all borrowers never read their loan documents.

This is the driver for the tone of this tread. 

Meetups are the best confidence supplement to books and podcasts in the world.

It's the one thing that will take your from analysis paralysis to action because it's the only way to put the learning you've done from podcasts and books into real life - by talking with others who have done what you want to do or who are trying to do what you want to do.Get your finances set and talk to a lender so you know what you can afford.Stay local.

The good news?

@Akash Agrawal In a real estate general partnership, all partners can be on the deed while only one partner holds the mortgage.

Personally, I would put most of it in passive real estate syndications - but I am a full time passive investor so that makes the most sense for me.The first decision you would need to make from my perspective is whether you want to invest passively or actively (your profile says rental property investor, so I would assume you are currently an active investor).