If they don't hang up or say no, engage with them.

I always engage qualified legal and accounting professionals prior to transacting in new spaces or employing new strategies.

We love our home, but being engaged in this community earlier would've saved us a lot of heartache, so I applaud you for reaching out as you get started.

You need someone who clicks with you personally before engaging in a mentor/mentee relationship with the dedication and stress that may be involved.Where to find a mentorStart by looking within your existing network.

Well Don for my 40,000 post I thought I would engage in one of your threads.

.- You already engaged an architect, which is the first thing I would do.

I must warn a  novice about engaging with someone who would actually post that there was a relevance, express or implied.

Also if your still here in 3 years you didn't engage on the REI side of things.  

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I want to use this opportunity to kickstart my real estate journey and am evaluating two options:- Purchasing a duplex and renting out one of the properties- Picking up a single-family rental in the area (alongside the apartment we use ourselves: either rental / owned depending on pricing)The two cities we've been exploring are Carrollton and Richardson.