Perhaps I can add NV to the mix of areas.

These turned out to be mine once I opened them--the contents of my apartment had been all mixed together and thrown out as garbage.I had to call them to get someone to come open the door so I could inspect the premises.

No RE experience whatsoever, and just started reading, asking questions and building a business plan.As for financing, I fund about 50% of my deals myself and fund the other 50% using a mix of private lenders, portfolio lenders and hard money lenders (but negotiated below hard money rates).

The DEAL your investors might be seeking might be unrealistic for the area they want to invest in.I know for my area what something will sell for with regular financing,a mix of financing bank and seller,and all cash.There is a difference between a great deal and an unrealistic deal.An investor is just like a regular purchaser in that FIRST they need to know if they can hit the percentages they want for the area.There are some investors who haven't bought anything with cash the last 2 years and have dreams of pie in the sky returns.So you need to find out if they are realistic before wasting time.Example you can have investors is Roswell,Ga buying quads with cash for 250,000 to 300,000.Some investors call wanting it at 200k.I saw one foreclosure 2 years ago that sold for that vacant and it sold for cash in 48 hours and had tons of offers on it.Haven't seen one like that in that location for years.So investors need to change the area or start putting the capital to work at a realistic expectation for the area.

I've also invested in some small commercial properties for instance a mixed use bldg last year.

As a newbie reader of your and other DFW Bper's informative posts and videos I am delighted and looking forward to meeting you and the rest of the members.

For example, if you are trying to rank for the keyword/phrase: real estate investing you should be mixing up your backlinks with anchor text/keywords like professional real estate investing, investing in real estate, real estate investing for beginners, etc.

It will be much easier for you to manage if you are nearby and you are able to rely less on other people (many of which are looking to take advantage of someone who does not know exactly what they are doing).2)There are a lot of mixed feelings on wholesaling on BP but I would like to clear up one misconception.

They also had family funds in the mix as well. 

They are looking for people that can specialize in business with specific training the company way.Business degrees like accounting and marketing are fine with other liberal arts classes that teach you how to think rather than rules and proceedures such as accounting (accounting doesn't get too creative until you get to a higher level).Overall, I'd suggest mixing it up if you want to be in business, get a well rounded broad base education that can provide flexibility in the future.Good LuckTechnical degrees were sought as well, programers, engineers and science types.