I’d say the most important thing is finding the source.  

Read a little and educate your self on some of the terms and investment strategies and then "GO"  My favorite strategy and the most that I help my investors with is the BRRRR method.

You won't figure this out from Costar or Zillow or most other data sources. 

You can search online for companies in your area that lend that way.But I'm guessing if you talked to the people around you, showed them what real estate investing can do, and offered a good enough return, you could pool money from multiple family and friend sources to make it happen.Most people aren't sitting on tens of thousands of dollars, but most people have 401ks or IRAs and if they trust you, and you are trustworthy, you can teach them how to pull loans on their retirement accounts that don't penalize them, and give you access to more money than you realize you had access to.Probably start there.

Hands down the best source of information.

My favorite inspectors do about 4, sometimes 5 inspections per day - thats well over a 1,000  year...How do you find a great inspector?

Most of the markets here are showing good appreciation and rent growth : https://www.biggerpockets.com/...Personal favorites include Florida and North Carolina.

Look at the source of the funds used to make each payment. 

I like that.Quote function - I want to know what post a person is answering/commenting on, but I don't like a thread that branches like a tree.Favorites - I had quite a few threads marked as favorites and it was very easy to go back and find one anytime I wanted.

Make them realize this is actually in their favor, it creates one less thing for them to worry about each month.