If you cannot find meetups, spend that time in these forums reading and chatting with othersBonus: -Pick one book on flipping / house-hacking and read it.

Be careful. 

Also, any sort of inspections, appraisals, and paperwork fees are not going to be refunded to you.My advice is to read thoroughly through your contract and take notes of the contingencies and see if there are any specifics in which you can leverage yourself out of the contract, legally of course.

Did some reading on your bio - Noticed you were interested in investing in commercial real estate, what draws you to that specifically?

If you plan to keep it long term, make sure to take care of plumbing issues beforehand. 

If you don't know where to start, read this article I wrote recently for Biggerpockets.Best of luck!

Educate yourself on the local market, network with other investors and agents, and always have a solid plan in place before making any investments.Also, I recommend reading “Long-Distance Real Estate Investing: How to Buy, Rehab, and Manage Out-of-State Rental Properties” - I found it to be very helpful when I got started investing 2.5 years ago.

Hey Aaron - just a word to be careful in Orlando area as the area is not performing quite well at the moment due to oversaturation. 

My true goal is to earn enough cash flow to 1) cover my necessities and general living expenses and 2) replace my W2 (I have the approximate numbers for these goals based on my own personal ambitions.)Based on your comment, it sounds like I should strive to own high quality real estate in medium-high barrier to entry (read desirable, appreciating, etc.) neighborhoods.

Be careful though -- you'll often take a very steep haircut on the face value of the note if you shop it in the broader secondary market.