To do this, honestly I think you'd probably either have to get a commercial line of credit, and engage with a lender directly. 

You said you looked at craigslist I would also try other websites to get a feel for what rents are vs how nice your place is.You could always engage a broker to rent the place for you and try it out for a year.

I am gonna try and go to the meetup sessions. 

Hey @Eric S.You should talk to a real estate agent when you are ready to pull the trigger and buy as soon as you find the right property.In preparation for that, make sure that :- you know how much you can afford- you have been pre-approved by a lender (if you are raising financing)- you have the cash for the down-payment in the bank- ideally you have the contact of a home-inspector to schedule the home-inspection asap- you have the contact of an attorney you can use.Knowing what you can afford and the type of property you are after, contact the real-estate agents with property listed and explain them what you are after.Good agents will take that information and source properties for you that matches your criteria.As you start engaging with more and more realtors, you'll have a feel for the one who understands your requirement, you are confortable working with and is good at his/her job.That is my 2 cents

You want to learn and engage people where they are.

@Ryan CoxHi RyanI have made it a commitment to spend at least 15 minutes per day on BP answering questions and engaging with the community.  

If you really want to learn how to use stagnant equity, find an equity markiing session to attend. 

It depends what kind of business, how many shareholders, what you want to achieve etc.It would be a good idea to engage an attorney and a CPA and have a chat to both of them about what you want to do.

Yes, all sides in an escrow would need to sign off on the terms and amount of a holdback... and at this last hours in the process you're in a tough spot as this kind of thing is better discussed, circulated and agreed to earlier so people have time to engage their long term thinking about it, their ethical brain about it. 

His office is in the city and he is very engaged in the area.