Are you planning to invest locally in New York, or are you open to investing out-of-state?

At that time, local jurisdictions may be allowed to require property owners to be owner-occupied. 

Local REI Meetup groups - AskThey are out there, but they are hiding under rocks a lot of times and you have to turn over a lot of rocks to find them.    

This means a great lending attorney, 1st position loans against local properties, and sensible loan-to-value ratios (LTVs).

If you visit https://www.biggerpockets.com/events, there is a section for "Community Events & Local Meet Ups." 

Educate yourself on the local market, network with other investors and agents, and always have a solid plan in place before making any investments.

If you want to stay local, you might need to start with house hacking a home.

You can join local real estate investment clubs or online forums to expand your network.Education: Continuously educate yourself on real estate investing strategies, market trends, and property management best practices.

He has been working on properties his whole life so he’s a great resource and partner on getting the work done but as this is my first purchase and reno, I am looking for a few suggestions on finishes so I can finish working out my numbers.The house was bought from a local investor who seems to have run out of money and was offloading about 3-5 properties in my area.

Maybe.But with us being so new to the real estate game, I'm glad we were able to learn the lessons we did early on and are able to ask them going forward to any lenders we speak with for future deals. this is one of the issue  you run into with Wet closings the seller wants a check the second they sign.. out here on the West coast lenders wont fund until they have all the docs signed and back to them then they fund the next day and seller gets paid the following day.. it has to do with what the local closings process's that are in place..