As I have been building my foundational knowledge for investing, I am at the stage where I am also wanting to keep up with the market data that, so I may better understand the specifics of the market of my choice.

Hey I am fairly new to the real estate investing game and want to see if anyone has a REI meet up or zoom meeting going for the Birmingham, Al area?  

We have our team lined up and are ready to go, and we are adding value to the real estate community through our website, meetup, podcast, and educational content we share internally within the community we learn through continuous education/experience.

I've had problems when someone else claimed the property kicking me out of the account. 

Shalom Welcome to Bigger Pockets and I wish you all the best in your investing journey!!

I am following this to learn

What strategy do you want to follow?

It’s the smarter move, it would mitigate the risk a lot more if I knew more experienced investors.

I can't figure out what the economic forces are in the community driving the high rents and relatively low purchase prices.

That does not work and is only for experienced renovators who know their buy box and know they will always go to the studs and redo everything.Just get out in the field, see every dump on the market, take sneak photos to show to a contractor, and get some investor and contractor friends who will be in the ballpark on the costs.