But I know sometimes I may need to sell to get a larger lump sum up front to help with lack of any other income currently. 

The books mentioned above are a great place to start!

welcome @Cam Caraher and congrats on joining BP, this place is the start for many, sure was for me longer ago than I care to admit.I'm not personally in your market, although was born in dorchester and grew up in NH, but this is a great place to meet locals.If you have not already a great starting point is the Meetups posted here, just search for your area and see if any meetups are happening. 

whats the worry.. buy at the court house steps and lien goes away. 

I have already talked to a private lender of mine that tentatively agreed to lend on the deal.

Quote from @Tim Miner: Hi, I am a Real Estate investor in NY who is looking to start a Mastermind Group here in NY.

I think LLCs are over rated unless you have to hold the property in one for financing like most DSCR lenders will require.

We need other things too...well, depending on what you are doing.If you are buying a property off the MLS...that's pretty easy.  

This means that you will probably need to pay registration and filing fees in at least 2 states if you don’t buy CA property as a CA resident.Be sure to tell your accountant that you may now need to file non-resident income tax returns in each state where you own property as well.

I have a separate account for my real estate properties and keep a base amount there.