Every time slot during the day has a purpose... even if that is just free time, social time, family time etc.

@Krishna SurendraRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

They have removed me from the private fb group, blocked me from all social media, and will not allow me into the daily live office hours because I started telling people about this.

Even retirees get raises to their Social Security and usually pensions as well. 

Also, join STR/AirBNB groups on social media. 

I take it that it's safer to just assume that any letter from or call from a random number is most likely some kind of rip off?   

However, randomly contacting numerous professionals from a list is inefficient and wastes both your time and theirs.

A HELOC will have a high interest rate - it's "expensive money" - and it will put a ton of pressure on your investment - you will be losing money every month unless it is an absolute home run.Yes, there are issues in California, but if you just buy a random property in a random state thousands of miles away... that is highly risky too. 

It seems like every realtor and lots of local investors have podcasts and do videos on social media.

Even the better ones among them are no experts in tax law and often come up with (and insist on) totally random positions contradicting the law.