More public services...More waste... 

@Ryan Barr if you are looking for groups that are buying specifically in Kansas City you could look in public records at who owns properties similar to the ones you’d be interested in investing in.

Are the STRAC meetings open to the public or do you have to be a member? 

@John Lee you get what you pay for with free advice.The ADA only applies to spaces available to the general public (i.e. stores, restaurants, parks, public streets, office buildings, etc.).Fair Housing deals with housing and it does not apply in every situation. 

So in either situation, an investor will come out way ahead of the general public, and they're going to choose to do what makes the most sense for their situation.

This is a really good question.If I had to choose a public figure, I think I'd go with Barbara Corcoran.

There is no expectation of privacy in a public place. 

Become familiar with pricing, public records searches, tax assessors sites, just fill your brain with all things real estate.5.

Maybe taking advantage is the wrong word because they might be charging what they can based on supply/demand of the general public but I am determined to find a small to medium sized shop that is more flexible and can appreciate the volume we bring. 

Or your building may have a "surprise" issue that costs you tens of thousands of dollars to fix (but hopefully one has healthy cash reserves to cover these issues when they pop up).Also, past performance itself is easier to see transparently with a rental property than with a publicly-traded company.Even as a CPA, sometimes when I read the financial statements and annual reports of publicly-traded companies, I'm left wondering what kind of tricks they're playing on the inside to make themselves look better than they really are.But with a property, the due diligence is a lot more straightforward.But of course all these advantages of property come at the cost of investing a significantly larger portion of your wealth into a single, illiquid asset than you would if you wanted to invest in a single, liquid stock.Anyway I rambled a bit there, but my personal philosophy is that both equities and real estate are incredible wealth-building tools, but similar to @Andrew Johnson I am much more "active" in real estate.