I found a way to bring value to real mentors by being a usual face at the local meetups and always volunteering to help out.  

You may also be able to volunteer to answer phone calls on the weekends or evenings.

Offer to volunteer your time on a rehab or deal finding or something with a seasoned investor in the area.

@Joshua Biondi  I was looking for a handyman a few months ago.................the woman who cleans apartments for me volunteered to paint and caulk a bathroom.

Although some of this data is certainly available in the public record, in many cases it's not all that simple to gather that data from the public record.And then of course, when there are "feuds", the parties involved might try to pull something like what Mitch posted here:http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/60121-another-grant-deed-scam-If someone wants to volunteer that info, great - but I'll abstain from that.

It sounds like you're looking for someone to volunteer their time to help you succeed.

As a volunteer fireman I have seen a few fires from soldering torches. 

@Ben Leybovich;) Does this mean you are volunteering to do a webinar to teach us Newbies about the numbers?

We also had skilled contractors who volunteered, one was the retired city building inspector.

I currently invest and volunteer in Newark and actually grew up there.