Start by reading the Ultimate Real Estate Investing Guide: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides/ultimate-real-estate-investing-guide/introduction2.

I’d be happy to help guide you further.

If you're looking at Cleveland, I suggest reading The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods to get yourself an understanding on the market. thank you!

If you plan on buying these properties using a mortgage its also best to begin the pre approval process and work with an investor friendly lender to help guide and educate you what the best product might be for your projects to make sure you dont already max out your borrowing power after the first deal.

But I would most likely use this URL https://www.findlegaladvice.org/guide-sue-government-california/to hire a civil attorney to sue the state of California for all lost income / rent since the chance of getting anything back through a collection agency is slim.

Check out The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods before spending any money on a Cleveland rental property.

Our coaches guide clients through an extensive course on investment due diligence to identify their risk tolerance, ask the right questions, create investment criteria, evaluate performance, identify any red flags and have a plan for what to do if an investment doesn't perform as expected.

I believe this is the type of Person BP should be courting for pod casts or whatever type of presentation your contemplating in the future to help guide your BP members that are starting out. 

However, you will need to find a seller that is willing to do this and it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a professional help guide you through this process.

Start with BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide (free).