We normally have a few guest speakers, food and a ton of smart investors to network with.

BiggerPockets and Facebook groups are also terrific sources of networking, which have become even more useful throughout COVID.

Even though that area is not directly exposed to outside, as a general question, is it an opening to the house (hole, crack, etc.) that causes ants or is it food sources in the house that causes ants?

Secret dogs--the barking all day when the master is not home is more a problem than just having the dog.In my experience they are Secret because the people really can't afford the deposits, and the renters who make deposits won't turn in the secret pet owners because of the "Just can't afford it" thing.Those who can afford it--pay, those who can't have "Secret Pets".I believe cracking down on secret pets may cause move outs because people love their pets--Secret or not.And turns are expensive and best avoided if possible.Tell your pet owners (and the property owners) they can use (Food Grade) Diatomaceous Earth to kill fleas and flea eggs inside, outside and petted on the cat or dog.

Meetup.com is a better source for finding in-person (and these days Zoom-based) meetings.

How can you be sure you’re using the best funding source possible?

No silent toilet leak after doing a food dye test. 

I hope this helps.Also Netronline.com is a good source to get info about a potential property, assessing public records. 

It just needs to keep the food cold and/or frozen, that's it. 

@Joshua Pietras if you are working for a PM company I would think they would be a great source of info.We help all of our internal employees find, analyze, and buy investment properties.