Since graduating in 2021, I moved to Washington, DC to pursue a civil engineering career and am now feeling like I am in more of a position to start learning and pursuing real estate investing seriously.

Raising money is all about marketing and sales (not real estate specific) so either hire marketing agency and read sales books, or hop on some LinkedIn courses on marketing and sales.Not sure the legal structure to use: talk to accountants and attorneys.Need deal flow: talk to brokers and go to a lot of networking events.Lending terms: start calling banks and loan brokers.From there, it is all risk mitigation. 

Just would like to start building relationships with people In the Phoenix area as well. 

Hi Aidan, when you first started you can create your partnership agreement per deal depending on what your end goal is for the property. 

We have renters there now and they cover the mortgage with a bit of cash flow ($100/month), but the property is going to need some more major updates (windows, roof, HVAC, siding) within the next 5 years as they are starting to be at the end of their useful lives.We would like to pay off our primary residence as quickly as possible to “free us” from mortgage payments on our primary residence.My questions are below:1.

We’re hoping to start small and are looking at markets, such as Buffalo or Rochester, NY.

I've been going about as long as you have and things are starting to come together and happen for me here in Sacramento.

Start with BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide (free).

These guru courses are almost always started by people who are, themselves, trying to get into the syndication business.  

I currently have about 50,000 saved and want to start putting it to use, knowing real estate is one of if not the safest investments.