A good term to start with is "Real Estate Investor [your state]" and look for public events you can attend.Once you start attending these event and become part of the groups, you'll find more people that have skills and goals that align with yours.Good luck!

@Michael Dentico Hello Michael and welcome to this BP site and this is a wonderful place to start, develop relationships, learn, grow as Real Estate Entrepreneur and investor and most important gain knowledge, skills and ability.

However; he does tout network marketing and the skills it gives you.

I dont want to settle for a bad location just to find one because ive been told location plays a vital role in that properties future success but i also fear i wont find any deals in the better areas like the lake bluffs, lake forest, long grove, etc.

Make sure when you approach those with the knowledge and skills you would like to have, you bring them something that will be valuable to them in return.

He's constantly talking about how you need to bring the skills you are good at into your real estate investing, and find others to fill in the gaps (and your own shortcomings)It has occurred to me that one of the big ways that I can still bring value added is through my architectural skills. 

Networking is a skill you can improve on just like real estate.

I would recommend that second job be in the construction field, real estate field, or something associated with a skill set that coincides with house flipping.Then you want to learn your market and start talking to people about raising investment capital.

There are too many things that can go wrong.I would work on making as much as you can with your current skill set and save as much as possible.

I would recommend you add your comments but please know that no one with any critical thinking skills relies on that estimate - including Zillow.