I highly recommend you start going to meetups.  

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I’d love to hear any tips or strategies that have worked well for you in real estate marketing, especially with PPC campaigns.For those who’ve done this successfully, are there specific keywords, ad placements, or campaign types that you recommend?

I am not a realtor, so I cannot give advice as though I am one, but there are some guidelines that I have used personally over the years, with great success.

There is statutory, and as you pointed out, now Fannie/Freddie guidelines, that exempt many transfers from being subject to the Due On Sale Clause...asset protection/estate planning purposes are covered.

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the Cape Coral/fort Meyers area, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

BiggerPockets also has a calculator to analyze deals, and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.

Some will follow staff recommendations almost all the time .. others will not..

If you're willing and able, I do recommend the "house hacking" strategy which is just a fancy name for buying a rental property and living in one of the units, because you'll get very favorable financing - an owner-occupied fixed-rate 30-year mortgage.I'd also say, analyze that property as if you won't live there and it's a pure rental, and make sure the property is still cash flow positive if there's a tenant in your unit because then you'll know if it's actually a good investment.And when you analyze it, include payment of a property manager in your #s because if you don't, and doing so would make it go cash flow negative, then you've just bought yourself a job because you literally can't step away from managing it without losing money.

A good real estate accountant can save you thousands of dollars by leveraging entity selection and formation, tax deductions, cost segregations, bonus depreciation and tax planning.I recommend finding an accountant specializing in real estate taxation, business taxation, financial planning and tax planning.Consider working with your accountant remotely to expand your options.I would also recommend looking for an accountant willing to work with you throughout the year.