To start I made sure that I found a majority of my furniture from locally sourced companies such as thrift stores, Facebook marketplace, mom-and-pop shops, and so on because I felt if I'm going to do this right I want to support the local community I am investing into. 

Would love to connect & share some resources on how to find a local mentor and id love to serve as a mentor for you in any way I can. wishing you the best!

During that stretch research and network locally.

Find a local realtor that will sell the property when renovations are completed. 

@Paola Astrid Find the local NARPM (national association of residential property managers) chapter's website and you'll find a list of each professional PM. 

Does that mean the actual manager or a local contact.

I would do what you are doing here on a bigger scale - social media, local markets she operates in Facebook groups, etc. 

Reward in RE prices for risk of course.As for horizontal I get mine from local community banks ..

I'd recommend joining local meetups. 

Not sure if this is helpful, but I am local to Columbia, SC and have interviewed a few local companies which all seemed horrendous.