I'm not looking for a mentor per say more of someone who's doing it consistantly where I can tag along and help to increase my knowledge. 

If looking at just net rental income you should not expect an increase in your tax bill as depreciation will drive you into a loss that will either be:1.

That on top of the escrowed payment of 1 year of property taxes and insurance upfront (which was not disclosed to me, until I got a loan estimate) has also increased the down payment by $7,500.

Is that too much or should I gradually increase overtime.

What are some of the popular schools of thoughts here? 

The LLC will give some protection, but a healthy amount of insurance would also be an option, especially for your partner.As for forming the llc, that is easy enough to do in Georgia - it is $25 for the name registration, $100 for the filing and then $50/yr for renewal.https://georgia.gov/popular-topic/corporations-llc

There are extra features that will increase the value of the house so the range of ARV's can vary.

Also, you probably want to make a 1-5% increase each year for inflation as well.

I'm going to start with reading popular real estate books but how could I put my learning in a good direction without missing an important topic?

In addition to Driving for Dollars, you can increase your mailing for money by working with a list broker to do more Mailing for Money.A lot of people have had a lot of luck mailing to Absentee Owners.