I attended seminars, joined meetup groups, and regularly invited local professionals for coffee to learn from their experiences.

I want to enter Originations with more experience and a solid book of business with guaranteed deals.

House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience.

What should a new investor have in there if he/she have no deals yet and no experience?

Aloha Cole, That is the end goal when I have some experience and capital to my name.

It helps you find reliableproperty management partnerships and gives you everything you need to makeconfident hiring decisions: Expert Matching: Match with professionals who meet your criteria Extra Assurance: Licenses, experience, ratings, reviews, and more that can be cross-checked with BiggerPockets members Bonus Content: Receive an essential interactive workbook: “How to Interview Property Management CompaniesHere’s how it works: Enter your market and what you're looking for Instantly see top matches and their qualifications Connect with only those you want to interview Bonus!

I'm not sure how things work in the Detroit market, but from my limited experience here, either a PMC gets back to us immediately and asks to see the properties or they don't respond. 

Does anyone have any experience in the Gulf Coast?

But through experience, some tend to slip through the cracks as everyone's insurance requirements and anniversary  dates vary across the portfolio. 

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with VA loans and the 1 year residency requirement before you can use the home as a rental.