And what specific people I should contact before starting.

I know of people going with Credit Unions getting significantly lower rates than the rest of the market, but then I know of plenty of lenders claiming that you can’t get that at all.

these people are not real.. why bother ?

There are so many beautiful areas of CA that people still want to live. 

Anyone I know who invested in Spain in the last ten years took a bath and I know a lot of people who did.

Always look at reviews, and make sure they are legit reviews made by real people.

Whether it says Passive LP, creative financing, fix and flipping, notes, Short Term Rentals, seller financing  etc - I am at the bottom - I can scream no but I far too often hear stories of people quitting their job to pursue real estate and then end up very unsuccessful. 

Real estate is often described as a 3 legged stool... with cash flow, appreciation, and mortgage pay-down all acting as legs that let you build your wealth.Plenty of people will say, equity plays are fine... and they can be.... but they come with higher risks than a property that cash-flows where you have extra income every month to help pay the bills.  

This helps weed out the people who aren't that interested. 

How do you expect people to want to pay for the service if they are being banned almost instantly?