I was thinking I’d start out by renting a room somewhere until I can figure out where I want to be.In the meantime, however, I’m looking for realtors, lenders that knows rehab loans and wholesalers.

I started out using property managers but was very dissatisfied with the services.

If you don't have any leads or don't know where to start here are a couple suggestions: ask brokers who people use for debt, find a mortgage broker as they have access to different buckets of capital, use a website like CoStar to look at closed transaction over the last 12 months and see who they used for debt.

I moved from Portland OR to Columbus OH to start house hacking.

I need to start buying my own properties.

Hey @Henry Lazerow - I would tend to agree that most of the NW side of Chicago 2-4 units don't play out perfectly well for BRRRR deals.I always looked at any potential house hack vs. having to rent - if my overall payments were less than the rent I generally considered that a win.For me...the house hack is just the ticket into the amusement park and then the fun rides come after...getting started can be overwhelming and hard so I can see why people might take a discount.I think one of the keys to strong equity creation is square footage creation which is basically what you outlined with duplexing up or down.

Find one that meets your needs as far as flexible pricing, no high volume minimums if you're just starting out.

I started my journey in a small town in Nebraska, flipping houses and learning the ropes through hands-on experience.

Google zombie mortgages.Note if a loan is charged off the loan can no longer accrue interest unless the lender starts issuing statements again

However I read books about real estate and thought that when I come to the USA, I'll start building my real estate portfolio, so here I am.I read several real estate books in the past, but now started to explore more while I'm in the USA.