I love going out to try new drinks and try new food.

If you were limited in cash reserves atleast you'll have the HELOC as a 2nd or 3rd back up source of funds to weather storms.

Real estate investing has been a passion of mine for time with my mother also having invested early on where I likely have gotten the love and desire to follow similar foot steps.I have taken last 6 months to educate myself and currently own a single family home as primary residence and would like to expand to multi family properties (2-4 units) for additional stream of income, not to mention potential tax benefits for long-term investing.Based on current living situation, I have a fair amount of equity established in my primary residency along with having enough cash to either pay off house completely or use towards investing in a multi family property.Given that I'm the sole source of income for our household with my wife being the home maker for our two kids under 2, trying to weigh out risks with getting started now or perhaps waiting. 

Can anyone recommend sources for contact information for property owners?

The good thing about CA, is once you do source a deal, you are pretty much set.

Lenders desperately need/want business especially in this interest rate environment (right now, the main source of mortgage loan business in Florida is rehab financing as a result of the hurricane damages) and one way the big players differentiate themselves is by streamlining the process.

Findlay is a real oppotunity beause you’ve got a combination of stable job sources, a decent population size, and often lower acquisition costs compared to bigger metros.About choosing an agent..

I occasionally get requests to manage commercial and love to have a referral source. 

This requires a dedicated effort sourcing and analyzing hundreds of deals to find the one or two worth pursuing.  

And i found launch control but the minimum is $500 a month, but they use cross-referencing data across sources to find the most accurate contact information by using a person's name and address to find their phone number, real address and email by accessing public databases, phone number directories, credit reports, utility bils, public tax records, and social media profiles. this is waaay expensive for me as a beginner. what do you suggest or if anyone has any suggestion I'd greatly appreciate it.??