I feel like my "circle of people" really needs an expansion and improvement and I want someone with more experience in the field I want to be in to really help me gain myself to success!

If you are new, be sure you can raise the funds before proceeding.In my opinion, you are going to have a hard time raising money with a 6% pref and 70% of the profits after that unless you have a lot of newbie investors in your Rolodex. 

Reason why is if you go to sell it, people are not going to comp it based on 40 year loan.

The buyers I resonated with, who I believed in as operators–those were the people I was willing to be flexible with.

I've seen other people in the forum who simply use independent savings accounts but it is not clear to me if that is legal.

That's where good people live, and good people make good tenants.But before you put money down on a house, I would find a quality property manager.

I normally pick and choose the events I go to based on what will be discussed. 

Great bunch of experienced and helpful people. 

Also be honest with what you want and how much time you have. 

A lot of people really undervalue the power of a few paid off assets.