Plus, aging more for an experienced team will likely be less expensive because they can do it faster and faster saves money in holding costs and opportunity costs.

The goal is to build my portfolio and create positive cash flow. 

I have had a goal to do more RE networking this year and to that end I have made it to two of the San Diego BP socials mentioned by @Gregg Watkins (I do not get a pull down for his name) and hope to make it to more this year. 

Blake:For me the key was hanging around people that were further along than I was.My goal had been to build a single family portfolio and we were doing that.  

Get out of here, you don't want to live here" (I removed all the NSFW words from his comment).After that experience I decided that this street is not suitable for my investment goals.

Make sure that your travel records are in good shape.You will make a major mistake if you wait until after the initial interview to learn the rules.The hours you spend as an investor reading reports and otherwise monitoring operations does not count for material participation purposes UNLESS you are directly involved in day-to-day management or operations.The IRS has learned that taxpayers seldom study the rules until after the initial interview, meaning that poorly informed taxpayers admit much in the first interview and then pathetically try to change their stories after they learn the rules (this is usually too little, too late).Goal here is to educate you, not overwhelm you.

I've been studying up for a long time and ready to take the plunge once I can save up some funds, unless I can find a good hard money lender willing to make a deal.I work in IT for the government, but my primary goal is to have enough properties that I can become FI and quit my day job to do this full time.

If you're a realtor, your goal should always be selling (or helping to buy) homes.

Define your goals,Then once you have your goals set then start reading books to get the fundamentals down. 

As long as it makes sense as an investment property, meaning, I am hitting my personal cash-flow and ROI goals while covering all the expenses you have accounted for in your analysis, then it is a WIN, and I move forward with the deal.