There are lots of paid software programs that do this for you as well. 

Meetups + books + podcasts are the way to go, but meetups are the most crucial to your confidence level and to know people like you do this every day.I agree with @Nathan Gesner on the heads up, when you say you are new and want help, everyone has a pitch, that's why meetups are so good - most have no pitch, just networking, unless it's run by a hard money lender.I have a couple friends who invest in the Lehigh Valley that I can connect you with when the time comes.

We are both highly dedicated and ambitious individuals with a strong desire for personal and professional growth.

My buy box is a home 5 years or newer, A or B-rated schools in the 200K-400K range that will appreciate over time with someone paying down my debt.

Agents that work with homeowners are totally different from investor agents.

The roofer gave me a invoice with high level bill of material, and a statement that it has 2 years of warranty and brand name of the shingles.It does not say brand name warranty or model or batch number etc. 

, we are not able to do keycode locks there. 

You will get convinced you can do seller finance or sub to, but it's not practical unless you are going to spend all your time doing that.

Take this with a grain of salt since you seem like you are trying to get started in real estate investing somehow.

There are a bunch of good choices IMHO.We don't have leather but all our surfaces are super durable because they are higher end sofas and chairs.The 3 main couches are a pair of Basset and a La-Z-Boy.