A good local realtor will be able to guide you on the neighborhoods and should have deals available to you that aren't being listed to the open market. keep in mind intel facility is going to be a slow roll given the state of the company.. its not going to be like the intel fab in Oregon and Arizona that created massive RE opportunities

@Jay LindgrenRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

@Tomoko HaleThis older thread includes a summary of different types of tax professionals.https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51-tax-legal-issues-con...CPA is a license.

I've been looking at different programs, mostly through the government for areas that I'm interested in investing in, but have not really came across anything that I would be a candidate for.

Net income is what gets taxed and that is different than cashflow.If you are managing your business correctly, usually cashflow is higher than net income because depreciation expense lowers your net income and depreciation is a non-cash expense.

(Note: my company is selling more than buying in this part of the cycle, so I am not that interested in what wholesalers claim to have.

It seems that most private lending companies are geared to lending against property.

How long it takes to be financially ready is different for everyone.

The last 2 years I have collected over 80 different bottle and gotten my hands on a good bit of the staples.  

The real work does come in with driving around like you mentioned, maybe being creative and showing properties they may not have thought of, and articulating different ways to offer on a property, just to name a few items.