He is partially surviving on T-Bills at around 3% and some reliably paying dividend stocks, so he was receptive when I first presented him with the idea of investing in the beginnings of my would-be real estate empire.

@Natalie Kolodij is right in saying that a lot of the answers to these questions will be specific to your own tolerance for risk, investment opportunities, and goals for your real estate empire!

My markets that I am looking for are in Phoenix and the Inland Empire in southern California.

I'm a licensed real estate agent in the Inland Empire region of Southern CA. 

Do you want to waist 2 years of your 10 year HELOC, just to get in now instead of when you need it? 

Sure, you can spend days drawing lines that connect boxes on some Donald Trump level real estate empire org chart in an effort to gain anonymity and avoid liability, but, at the end of the day, what protects business owners is adequate insurance and acting intelligently."

I’m looking for people in INLAND EMPIRE to meet up with and discuss the basic on how they started and maybe point me to any real estate investment groups or even mentor me!

Specifically, I am in Los Angeles County and near the Inland Empire.

What got me back in the game was 2 things...1) Mark Ferguson's book "Build a Rental Property Empire" and 2) listening to 2 different podcasts where I heard 2 people who were in my current profession resign because they were making so much money in Real Estate.I attended my first meet up this week and it was nice to speak with people with the same goals and interest in Real Estate.  

Inland empire.