I agree with everything Curt said,,contractors can be your biggest asset or your biggest headache.

Also search for "meetup" and the biggest city near your area, and you may be able to find a local meetup or REIA to network with some others and learn more.

The only downside is that it is hard as hell to comp. ;)

(I imagine those demos are the biggest consumers of co-working space), but I wonder if there is a niche in the suburbs as there are tons of freelancers, solopreneuers and work from home types out here.Most of them are setting up shop at Starbucks, but it's tough to do meetings, conference calls, etc. there because of noise/lack of privacy.  

My biggest obstacle is actually FINDING a good deal....

I have found at this point the single biggest factor to expanding my portfolio is the 20% down to acquire new properties.

The downside is that it doesn't includes any additional data like seller concessions and days on market.

Also search for "meetup" and the biggest city near your area, and you may be able to find a local meetup or REIA to network with some others and learn more.

However, the risk to which they are exposing themselves can make perfect sense for their model, in which such an investment is a tiny portion of a larger portfolio and there is a low downside risk but high upside.

I have seen some of the biggest disasters who have nice ads and even a website.