The best advice I can give you is to network with anyone you can, I have been on BP for a little under 6 months, and one of the things I have noticed is most of the experienced investors have little to no time or motivation to talk to new investors.

Check out the nearby members and network at https://www.biggerpockets.com/meet, it will help you a lot to find partners that can help you out in investing. 

:-) What a wealth of info and the ability to network is priceless.Me: 56, California SF Bay Area (East Bay) native, in the tech industry, starting to think seriously about retirement, 4 SFH rentals in SLC area, Albuquerque area, Dallas area, and Memphis (TX and TN are paid off). 

I think the customer experience using these companies will vary widely depending on the specific crew/ store/ location of course. 

You may want to check out the local REInvestorGroup to network and learn more.

If you are ever back home, networking at the local BP meetups run by @Darrin Carey is awesome.  

I figure not not only would I learn more about the real estate market but I could also use this as a tool for building out my own network.

I love networking and will be attending the OmahaREIA tonight along with the Omaha Real Estate Meetup Wednesday night. 

I've been on BiggerPockets a few weeks now and its safe to say this is the best networking platform for investment real estate!

Attend happy hours, networking events, charity events.