There are so many skill sets that you have had trained into you, that prepare you for this business, or any business.  

I know this will come slowly, and I want to learn it right, to build skills in each area in a very professional manner.

Do you have cash that they can borrow or a long list of applicable skills?

I have a property in Rohnert park right next to the Graton Casino I bought in mid 90s for 27k  4 acres tax's 200 a year just sits there.. just put it on the market for 3 million will take two though  :)  its all perspective.. and where you live I made more on my bay area properties in appreciation than I could have possibly hoped to make in a life time leveraging small dollar rentals or drip income at 200 a month per door.. but to be fair I am not an investor I am a business owner and we create income with commission s Points  interest delta building new homes etc etc.. average investor cant do that .. they don't have the skill sets or experience to get the financing to pull this stuff off.So I totally get the buy a rental house try to scale it for the average W 2 or high income earner who is focused on their career.  

It's an art to know, which things to NOT fix.

We ended up renting to a couple of guys, recent immigrants with poor English skills that we had to communicate with via a translator.

A few skills I want to get down first is how to price properties effectively.

I am now looking for a career change to utilize my skills in the Real Estate world with creativity, leadership, attention to detail and an optimistic mind set.

I don't have the skill to do what you and the other professionals ws do in this market.  

The NHREIA meeting can be found at NHREIA.com, and the Nashua meeting can be found at http://www.meetup.com/NH-Real-Estate-Investors-Mas...One of the most useful skills you can develop as a real estate investor is that of digging for information.