Others have little/no experience and will give you bad advice that takes you down the wrong path.I recommend you focus on educating yourself while saving more money. 

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.

Nathan above gave some good software recommendations, any of which would probably work well.

Any suggestions or recommendations out there for best rate HELOC (not 2nd mortgage).  

I recommend you read "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene.

Additionally, not all transaction types support Locations, meaning you'll have to create journal entries to correct them—requiring a solid understanding of debits and credits, which can be time-consuming and error-prone.Instead, I recommend biting the bullet and upgrading to QuickBooks Online Plus for each entity.

Any recommendations on lawyers to talk to that can assist in advising on an LLC fund (if needed) and how? 

@Philip Anderson I'd recommend checking out @Baird King's meetup in Santa Barbara and @Kevin Aranha's in Ventura. 

I would highly recommend a mentor or even paying a coach to get started.

If you’re doing a straight forward investment property purchase, I recommend you try to connect with an investor focused mortgage broker or lender.