My wife and I have dabbled in real estate before but not at a big scale and we are starting from ground 0.

Instead, I'd recommend browsing through the Bakersfield thread and looking around there so you can see good examples of my financial breakdowns of specific properties and other analyses regarding investment properties in Bakersfield.Without going into too much detail, I'd highly recommend looking for a small scale multi-unit property (2 to 4 units) because in my experience they tend to cash flow much better here, far better than SFRs.  

He has likely been paying a hefty percentage of his monthly payment to interest over the past ten years and is only now starting to see the scales tip in favor or the principal vice interest.

Using loans also allows you to scale up quickly and get the mortgage interest tax deduction.

Because many of your expenses will scale in price based on that value.

But, my most recent layoff , due to a company merger, forced me to reexamine my financial future.  

As for the job market there is Fairbanks Scales, The Weidman factory, and the hospital for big employers.

They're not (usually) young folks in their 20s, and the larger scale investors tend to be older.

My goal is to scale up to that level, I'm sure that your free time is in short supply but if anything opens up for you I'd love to have the chance to touch base again to see how our business can potentially overlap in the future.

Like multiple job moves, a growing industry for which that area is the hub, or numerous large-scale businesses building in that area.