My buddy just invested in Akron Ohio long distance from NY.

That's great that you know the investing strategy that you'd like to execute, as that's often part of the initial battle.Best of luck with your RE goals! 

I no longer work from a place of scarcity.I set myself up for success and work from a place of abundance.I have built my cash buyer list to close to 5,000 buyers, invested into a coaching program for private lending, and developed multiple exit strategies to be ready for any situation that presents itself.It let's me earn $40k per deal consistently today and occasionally hit some $90k+ homeruns.Embrace your mistakes, learn from them, and adapt.This is the only way to grow.

only work on your own investments?

Definitely becoming more of a factor that will squeeze margins.

@Rob Ibarra Converting non restaurant space into restaurant space can be fairly costly from what I understand due to the need for larger than standard water lines to service the building and a general need for grease traps and other restaurant specific infrastructure.My first question around going from abandoned auto shop to kitchen is zoning, could you even get the use approved, and then are their any environmental factors in play? 

However what I found to be the most effective is working with realtors within the investment space.

Global Property Guide is a great first resource for international real estate investing, @Brandon Camarillo.

he said after 40 years w his clients he's observed that its easy to get into real estate investing and much harder to exit real estate investing. 

@James McGovernI guess everyone on this platform who invests in real estate is greedy.