I have to agree with Ryan Brouwer:  Stay away from the Azzam Group and RE/MAX Haven. 

I have sold RE in NJ for almost 15 years so can probably help if I have more details. 

Remove, renovate, re-tenant.

Also looking to connect with local RE Agents, property managers, lenders, etc.

I've talked to couple RE agents and for the most part, they are great at sharing their insights to investors. 

So, for instance, re: my family property that needs patching up, would you advise saving 50% of the cost of the renewal before looking into loans and such?

If I were you, I would log into your Airbnb account and re-review your cancelation policy.

You could also apply for a HELOC on your home to use the equity for whatever but obviously you have to make monthly payments so ideally you'd want to make sure the cash flow from a RE investment is higher than your loan payment.Another piece of unsolicited advice....

I did re-create the provided pro formas and did some stress testing of their assumptions.

I am getting my ducks in a row to finance my next deal, which has to be a commercial RE (multi-family of 5+ and above).