'May purchase a vacation property in the islands or in Florida (since plan travel is not our cup of tea at this time). 

Since I'm only 17 years old and have no previous real estate experience how exactly do you think I should go about networking, especially considering I don't currently have any personal connections with investors.In my experience, most of the people attending meetups are inexperienced and a decent percentage of them have no experience.

I would prefer an inexperienced investor bring a significant amount of their own funds but if the deal was great I might require less.

That's a lot of risk to take on with someone who is inexperienced and has no track record.  

If you get sick of water, get a green tea. 

This option is unappealing to most inexperienced auto buyers, because they will look for cars with low miles or without issues.

I know that I could benefit financially from people who will default again, but that strategy is not my cup of tea.

They are great marketers, and often times because of their "inexperienced" list of buyers, they are able to sell their properties at a higher price than a more seasoned investor would pay.I have also heard second hand reports of them taking the $5,000 non-refundable down payment from these "inexperienced" buyers, even though they know they won't be able to close.

I'm sorry my man, but you are too niave, inexperienced, and idealistic.

Many lenders are selling loans that have maturity defaults and there were a lot of inexperienced investors getting these types of loans.6.