Plenty experienced investors as well.  

I would also suggest getting a property manager if your not experienced with screening tenants.

I would prefer a local experienced investor with significant (i.e. more) equity at risk than myself who will make the right decisions on behalf of the investor group.

Hopefully someone more experienced can speak up on this but for me it seems as though southern California is an equity play more than cash flow.

I am no expert but I've been recently asking questions of those who are experienced/prof. and I'm willing to share what I learn.  

When I ready to add two agents, I will be looking for experienced investment specialists    who is knowledgeable in real estate taxation, depreciation, exchange, and management and someone with atleast a bachelor's degree preferably with a background in business, finance or economics.This is the path I had taken which worked out well for me but  it may or may not work for you. 

I did read some of the previous posts regarding this opportunity but still welcome any comments, help and advice I can gain from the experienced REIs here.

An experienced investor with capital might be able to renovate and attract higher quality of tenants.  

__________________This is what I do when I train new or experienced real estate investors:I teach them to talk to sellers 1st, then I teach them the write out of letter of intent to purchase or lease real estate.I love pretty houses that need no work that have little equity, because the sellers are stuck, and there’s 20 million low equity houses in the United States.They can’t sell with an agent because the cost to sell are 10% to 15% of the value of the house.So they can have 2 choices: rent it out or sell on terms.But you can’t give them term solutions without interviewing them 1st.I posted on biggerpockets.com an article called, “Be the Doctor with the Seller.”Over 5 years ago I posted it.

@Dave Van Hornyou are definitely far more experienced than I at these, your comments are duly noted and I'm not one to argue with someone of your stature.