It makes life easier for me and the tenants.

Start with Strategy by @Dave Meyer and Set for Life by @Scott Trench are great starter books before you get into others.

Keep in mind inflation isn't equal across all aspects of life.

Often the member is committed to completing and utilizing whatever material at the beginning of the program, but after a few weeks or months and life starts happening again, they get pulled back by the gravity of the familiar and stop or don’t apply what was learned.

As you'd expect these giys are super busy an d you can't get a quote frpm them to save your life unless you said the magic words;  "I'm desparate and will pay 2x the actual costs today for you to take this job".   

Its easier to trust a Guru who preaches great returns than to buy something that doesn't have as good returns in your backyard. many people will follow where they are told the easiest way to make money is its human nature.

So, your portfolio will actually be sucking cash out of your life, if you buy a traditional long-term rental using a HELOC as your down payment, for many years. 

The thing I would be worried about is that these two properties will consume your entire life, you will have to overspend on both, you will overdo it on both because of the attachment and will end up with properties that are worth way more to you (emotionally) than to the open market.Your area has starkly rising insurance costs because of fires and the property in Carlsbad being near the water now has strong flood risk so your insurance and holding costs are going to keep going up and up which may hold down the overall value.

I know as with almost everything in life much of the learning will come from hands on experience but I want to build a the best foundation possible beforehand.

You struggle with managing relationships and understanding human behavior, go read some of your own posts.