Turnkey or close to turnkey would be nice, but willing to consider a fixer upper for the right opportunity. 

If it looks like s*** you will get tenants who also don't give a f***, excuse my plain words.

I am hoping to learn more about how investors analyze their deals and make decisions, as well as looking to better understand general real estate investing.

I am interested in buying a long-term turnkey property in a nice area (I live in San Diego so this property would have to be out of state).

One thing you definitely want to do since you've got a bit of a runway would be to use part of the 1031 to purchase a really nice investment property (maybe in Denver). 

I have had a long term interest in purchasing an investment property and I'm looking to be smarter about this.

Only other initial question I'll leave here is that I'm looking for REI mentors and hope to find a few on BP willing to share a few gold nuggets to those willing to slog it out in the mines the smart or hard way.

HELOCs are fine, but keep in mind that you really only want to use 50 percent of less (each) of your available equity just so you aren't creating a problem that you can't solve later if the value of your personal residences fluctuates.If you both have W2 jobs though, have you looked into getting qualified together and just getting a loan, 10 percent down each?

Go to BUILD YOUR TEAM at the top of the screen and look for local investors or meetups in your area.

I wouldn't know the areas to look out for or to stay away from so any advice would be awesome!