Best way to pierce into Austin as a newbie is to network with other big players and top brokers. join as a LP on a deal to learn it while building your portfolio. if you want a place thats hot but less espensive then north dallas ftworth.. if you want great value add we can help you here in san antonio

You do have the leverage on Real Estate that you can use that isn't typically available to the owners of stocks.Also, depending on how you have your portfolio structured in terms of financing, real estate should be a pretty good hedge against a inflation.I know we haven't had real inflation in a generation or more. 

If you invest with them and it goes well, you don't need to make the trip again, you can build your portfolio with that provider pretty easily.Even if you haven't narrowed down your list yet, ask about a visit.

I'm going to be utilizing professional property management for my very first property, but I haven't noticed them using facebook for their portfolio.

Investor selling off their portfolio?

In addition to progressing within a corporation, I also have aspirations of starting my own rental portfolio and eventually would like to move into the multi-family space.

@Hunter Waterman I've found that for banks that hold onto their loans (portfolio), they vary widely in their policies and suspect you can find one that will do a HELOC on top of an existing 1st mortgage from another bank - though whether you like their max LTV (i.e., maximum allowable LOC) is another question entirely.If you're going with a more traditional bank / institutional loan that likely resells the loan on the secondary market, you'll have a much harder time doing anything creative or "outside the box".

If anyone has some advice on how I can quickly construct a portfolio before this money falls though my California pockets?

I am curious if any of you purchase properties that don't quite work with the 1% rule and what you do to make these work with your rental portfolio. 

@Melanie Kent find a portfolio or hard money lender.