I have been studying up on books, listening to the BP podcasts and working on building relationships and letting people know that I am into REI. 

Refer to The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods to see which B-Class or above suburbs work for you and your family.

I understand there is also property management software that combines ACH payment capabilities with feature with basic book keeping features, perhaps work orders/repair requests, document(lease) archives, leasing/listing features? 

Start with education - Read books, join local investor groups & find a mentor.

I've been reading through the Self-Managing Landlord book from BP and the chapter I've found the most useful is "Creating Your Tech Stack."

I am wondering if everything in the Ultimate Beginner's Guide and other real estate books for beginners that were written a decade or more ago still completely apply to nowadays investing.

Have you read any books or listened to podcasts to pair with the in-person meetups?

Any advice or insight would be appreciated before I lawyer up and book my flight to AZ!

I just attended the Bigger Pockets Conference and I discovered there were many books you can obtain through the Bigger Pockets website that might help you in your journey.

I started to allow them to see if it helped with bookings.