Recommendations for having a real estate agent for investing...

[Miles Stanley]

Hello!

I'm new to real estate investing and am really excited about the prospects of it!  my question(s) are about the general actual transaction of the deal...say for finding a motivated seller, making an offer and buying the property.

1) would you guys recommend i have an agent on board to do these types of deals?  i have read that one of the biggest errors a new investor can make is to not have a team (agent, broker?, etc).

2) if not, how do i physically go about the transaction? (contract, escrow, title, closing, etc?)

Thanks!