It's incredibly important to focus on your niche.

I realize that LA is one of the worst markets to be in for this, so I am open to out of state investing as well.I would love to connect with other investors here not only to learn myself, but also to become a valuable member of this incredible community.

In case you are interested - I wrote about my experience finding mentors in this "Ultimate Guide to Finding Incredible Mentors" - I hope that it helps you with your search!

OR if you haven't done it for your own funds but you have worked in a small REIT or small private equity shop and have insights on lead gen and deal flow management in a environment of a very small team - that would be helpful also.In other words, having an employee in place to systematically perform the mechanical aspects of the flow of:Lead generation -> deal analysis -> placing offers -> due diligence checklistsIf you have done so, I would LOVE to hear any of:1 - Your "best practices" insights2 - Whether or not you felt that the expense and time involved (I'm forecasting a full time) in operating your own lead funnel generated, over time, investment opportunities at better values than what is available on the open market.

Knowing how banks actually work, besides being incredibly interesting to me, allows me to make sense of the real estate market - it takes away some of the voodoo magic of housing prices and replaces it with logic.

Basically, you can eliminate brokerages since our lending environment requires licenses in every state individually.

As for my background, I have a little experience in Real Estate investing, in the Canadian environment (full remodel of a 1948 house, 2 years of corporate leasing, sold my house by myself).

:) This site has been incredibly helpful in helping us make our way into our first flip!

Just watch out for HOA restrictions; I've had managers make incredible offers to homeowners only to realize HOA restrictions won't let them do short-term rentals.

Young, inexperienced and/or uneducated parents may not have thought about the environment and child safety.