What skills or certifications would you recommend that I could bring to the table that would help build rapport and get me in the door faster or better?  

But don't listen to me, lots of folks are doing well buying large to small apartments, but its a unique skill and has its difficulties.   

Because no one is going to help you, you must help yourself - we are all that middle point around which the world revolves - and it's up to you to own it.So when our friend Lydia thought, 'come on dude, put some of your time and thought into it,' it's because, like me, she's probably seen a lot of people approach this biz and we now see at a glance whether they have the skill set, disposition, and self-starter attitude required for it.For example, I used to tell people, "You should consider getting into real estate," but when they text me later that evening asking me what website they look into licensing courses on, I realize I made a mistake, because I'm not going to Google That For You.But take heart, because these are all learned skills, you just need to focus on learning the right ones. 

They have worked with these people, know their skill level and reliability, and they have an interest in maintaining a long term relationship with them as well as you.

That could be helpful if I wanted to start in a JV so I would provide some technical, construction skills to s.o. who is not interested in the dirty job but has the money?

Even then, we buy and make more money than the seller - depending upon our skill set developed.

Reading is a valuable skill that's under appreciated in this generation. 

There is no shortage of people who will help you, but they aren't looking for you, you need to look for them. networking is NOT a natural talent, it's a skill like any other that you get better at with practice. 

In my area I would pay a laborer $80-100 per day and a handyman $100-150 per day depending on the type of work and the skill and experience of the person.

As a new, out of state investor, unless you have a lot of time, skills and knowledge, you might want to consider working with a good turn key company, otherwise, there are a lot of moving parts and a lot of different people that you need to line up and you have to get it right with every one of them.