I don't take your advice as discouragement, but more as a realistic picture of the risks of entering the REI game that most won't tell you. $20k has felt light to me as well, and I love the idea of having an emergency fund for each property I own.

It's a blocking and tackling, play the long game market right now.

I'm located in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area and am open to properties basically anywhere in southern Michigan (anything south of Muskegon from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron is fair game imo.)I now have a fairly large nest egg of cash beyond all of my other investments (stocks, bonds, treasuries, crypto) and I want to turn that cash into a real estate investment or investments and I think my deep background in tech, systems, and marketing should be able to help me substantially.It seems to me like BRRRR on multifamily units makes the most sense, but I'm open to suggestions.I'm basically retired at this point as the only work I do each week is 3-4 hours of consulting for larger tech companies and I'm on a couple advisory boards.What are the best first steps in building a team and creating the systems necessary to start making deals?

You can't slam a mentorship just based on their price.

I have been editing it based on a state-specific lease template which contains 15 pages.

Hey @Mary Carmelo, I'm based in LA and when I'm looking to connect with local investors I google search for local REI meetups, conferences, and even property listings or developments.

Fathom does have a mentor program for beginners coming to Fathom, is based on servant leadership, offers 100% commission less a transaction and an annual fee and more.

In other words, it's completely case by case. 

For instance, if I manage to raise private capital to fund a deal and purchase a successful rental property, how would this actually benefit ME when I have no skin in the game (i.e. money of my own invested)?

🌎Based in Suwanee, GA (Just north of Atlanta near Alpharetta), and planning to invest in Forsyth County, GA and in Lake Junaluska, NC (30 min outside of Asheville, NC) 💫 I plan to buy either a STR, a BRRR, or flip a nearby property in my zip code to learn more, and find out if this is right for me🏠 First got interested when a very successful colleague and Product Manager at a startup in LA left that world to get involved in STR in Joshua Tree, CA.