I have my own thoughts on what a mentor could bring to the table, but I wanted to also ask the community what questions they would ask if in my shoes. 

I formally cut ties with the dishonest investor over a month  ago, so I'm not doing anything behind his back...As for the 4 plex investor, I am  going to tell him that I am wanting to wholesale it.

Totally agree, you can't know your market sitting at a computer, real estate is a social business as Matt described, use some shoe leather, walk and talk, meet people, get belly to belly as they say. :)

However I put in mine that they can be negated with 1 days notice.Good agents do not need to contractually tie a buyer to us.

I'm confident I can find great deals for you.Most women love hand bags or shoes.

What direction would you go if you were in my shoes (CA or cheaper market)?   

If you tie up a property that is listed on the MLS, then you may cause that seller financial harm by tying the property up for a length of time and not following through on the transaction.

I needed to put a contract on it and tie it up, then wholesale the property.Last weekend 1/16/2016, I went out, with my list of possible properties I would put a contract on.To my surprise I was told by two different people at seperate times, that I needed to be pre-approved to put a contract on a property, and the down payment amounts are different for owner/occupant vs investor.I need a mentor/partner that I can work with for my next property.

I ranked them in a tie for third place with two other sites.On the downside: their minimums are very high. $50,000 versus an average of $10,000.

As someone with strong ties to both of those cities I think you could do well in either market.