I am just starting out here in South Carolina looking to network meet a community of like-minded individuals.  

It’s only when they’re trying to wind down a fund do you see which properties are the duds.I’m of the opinion that funds tend to be a more sensible platform when there’s a pre-identified number of opportunities that a sponsor's looking to capitalize on immediately.

I've trained people at my jobs when I was a senior accountant to controller.I've used Yardi Enterprise (old desktop client software)Yardi Voyager 6s & 7sYardi Genesis2Reason why I say you won't be able to find a tutor is because no one is going to spend $15K a year to use as a training platform to mentor and tutor people.

Meet with financial advisers/wealth managers and see what other options other than real estate there are and how to best allocate / diversify. ie have you maxed out your TFSA?

My name is Jay I'm excited to join this platform as a new investor based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

You can also check meetup.com or search Facebook for real estate investment groups, clubs, or meetings in your area.

Also, SAAS platforms are supposed to include support and service (that's the last S), but the quality varies greatly from company to company. 

I am sure the STR  platforms have probably been contacted by the authorities

This is a good question.I found that meetups are kind of like you described not much really happens there and for sure REIAs and their monthly meeting kind of the same people talking about the same thing then bring in ( at least what i have seen with the PDX reia) folks that are presenting on things that worked decades ago.. and want to sell their stuff for a few grand.For me personally the best networking hands down was SF Bay Area events  San Jose Reiaand LA  FIBI events.folks in those markets are very real estate centric and generally more experienced and in San Jose so many tech folks that have done really really well.. maybe not in RE but have done great in TECH and have quite a bit of bandwidth for investments..

Pick a screening platform/application that makes sense for you.As for meeting the applicants, I recommend meeting them at the property to show the place to them rather than getting coffee or food with them.