I've looked on their website and it does seen to be pretty heavy on gurus and pitches but I would like to make it to a meeting and meet some local investors.

I'm hesitant to post this due to others on the site from my area (and possible competition, if you will), but this is a HUD property.

The Austin real estate market currently appears to be fairly tough because of the very competitive market.

I do when I'm cash heavy.

The attorney could easily show the court a better offer from your competition. 

Just know some will view you as competition so trust, but verify, what they say.

Rental demand has been pretty strong in my area.The demand for flip properties is very intense in my area, but the competition for rentals isn't as bad, specially if you have cash to invest.Unless you are looking to invest for very short term, use the dollar cost averaging to diversify.

Some are good but many run heavy scams and are shifty in their business dealings.

Typically the agent will request a representation agreement from you when he start setting the MLS searches or before submitting the first offer, but the Investor probably has an agreement with his own Realtor to get money back or discounts in the next transactions, it can be tricky to have everybody happy in this case and it can even jeopardize the business with the Investor, but is good to clarify this ahead to avoid problems with your Realtor and keep getting leads from him.Note: for us the MLS has not been really useful to find leads here in the DC area, the heavy discounted properties are taken long before they hit the market, and the few good ones that appear in the MLS doesn't last much or get multiple offers from inexperienced investor that pay to much (and probably don't get any profits at the end)

It has gotten far more competitive as of late.