That being said, I will preface this with the fact that I have a legal background, specifically with estate planning and asset protection as it relates to real estate.

If you have specific questions about property management, I'll be happy to help!

kudos for your specific and thoughtful post. 

Find the REIA group for your areaAs Henry noted, post something specific for your area and tag your market.Get on Loopnet for your area and property type, reach out to the brokers that are listing deals and offer to take to coffee (they are often invested in deals too but you could ask for connections to other operators that might be getting started).And, again as Henry noted, each person you meet, ask them what other networking events they have attended that you can put on your list.

While the forums here may be helpful, those forums are private and specifically for LPs of any syndication deal, that niche group may have more expertise for you in this situation. 

My wife and I also own the only interior design company specifically for real estate investors, Ivory Home.

Everyone has budgets and you are not in the luxury bracket where I would worry about young partiers etc.

I was specifically interested in his 2nd plan which was "Building wealth through single-family homes" where he basically says you save enough to buy your first property along with enough for other fees and then you just keep saving the money you make from that property along with some money you save from your job and once you have enough money you buy your next property and then you basically just keep repeating that until you have your desired amount of properties.

Quote from @Mel Kirchhoff:Some specific questions I have:• Should it stay fully stocked like an Airbnb (plates, utensils, towels, etc.), or pared down?

You may have to search a bit for the right contractor or engineer - sometimes I see one solution dominating in an area - "that is how we always do it"  Thanks for the input - yes, it sounds like the specific area this house is in is particularly bad for foundation issues.