The key is engaging the services of an honest turnkey operator, because MANY operate under "wholesaler" standards of throwing out unicorn fantasy numbers just to get you excited enough to buy and trust them.

I work full time and am strongly considering engaging with a property management company.

Looking forward to engaging with more people on the site and purchasing our first investment property in early 2018.

To be clear, engaging with the community as @Kevin Polite suggests is a good idea. 

"Under the Fair Housing Act, property owners and property managers are required by law to refrain from engaging in sexual harassment.

It's harder to get answers to the real questions that are worth asking but some show up if you are consistently engaging in the forums. 

Learn to attract and engage private lenders.

@Adam CousleyYour self-employment as a licensed realtor should qualify you for the Solo 401k, which can accept rollovers from all of the source plans you mention.The Solo 401(k) could invest in syndicated deals, so long as the investment does not create a self-dealing or disqualified party issue, i.e. it cannot be a syndicate you are personally putting together.The Solo 401(k) would be exempted from UDFI taxation on debt-financed investments into real property.UBIT would apply regardless of plan type if the investments of the plan constitute a trade or business engaged in on a regular or repeated basis (generally flipping, wholesaling and new construction in the real estate space).

What I'm looking for is what needs to be done before I engage a deal. 

And some of them are legitimate experts in their field.But the prevailing sense I get is that most people on here aren't even looking for business - they're engaged in give and take, they both get help and give help.