Seconding what George said -- real estate investing clubs are your best bet to meet people face-to-face.

I will bet this will give you peace of mind in my opinion.....

I bet you will find a motivated seller  if you do this 100 times and if you have great helpful personality.Once you find a really good deal and have a good connection with the owner,  I bet you can turn the lead into $5K for you at least. 

I bet you could get a FHA or conventional secondary market loan on that.

Welcome @Brian ChadwickI did the same thing last June, attended a guru 3 day event but did no feel right at about about the 30k plus program.After a couple of months here on BP I'm confident I made the right decision.Best of luck!

Simple concept but people don't due it because of the cost of traveling and the crazy amount due diligence required.Safest bet is always cash flow but this is not the best area for that.

or are you betting on appreciation? 

Otherwise buying low cost rental is probably your best bet.

I am confident I will learn a lot with them in the next few years but my concern is that I will be getting into another "partnership". 

A lot of people love the high growth cities, and less, but still many, love the sure bet of Lubbock.Anywho, welcome to BP and real estate investing!