I also encourage you to attend local meet up groups.  

My suggestions are search the archives for topics of interest, attend some of Brandon's free webinars, of course listen to the podcast and ask lots of questions.  

I would start attending your local REI club meetings, networking in your area is key.

I live in the south suburbs outside of Chicago and would love to connect or attend a meetup!

To be clear, I've never actually bought at a sheriff sale I've just attended several in MKE and the guy I just started working acquisitions for buys at a lot of them (I'll be doing this going forward) so I was asking him these same questions yesterday - so that's my reference point - I'm not an expert.  

Learn to enjoy the burn.4) Attend events.

Attend some of the BP webinars that they offer for FREE each week - they aren't trying to sell you anything, it's just really good info.Also, set up some keyword alerts on here so you get notified when something you find interesting is being talked about (try: newbie, Texas, investing, financing, rural areas, rookie, first steps). 

Please note I am not affiliated in any way with any of the groups other than that I have attended some of their meetings/presentations.NTAREI- https://ntarei.com/ Normally meets about 2x a month in North Dallas at the Holiday Inn at Preston and LBJ NE corner.

I recently attended a 3 day REIA seminar for free, only to discover on the last day that in order to join their program it would cost $60k+.

@Michael CollinsBelow are some tips to find a Local CPA that specializes in real estate1) Attend a Local REIA / Real Estate meetup and see who other investors are using as a CPA2) Network with other investors from your City/State that you find on bigger pockets and see who they use as a CPA3) Look for CPA's with good google/yelp reviews where 'real estate' is mentioned in the review.4) Verify that your CPA is licensed.