I will gladly take any suggestions like meet ups, learning websites, books, podcasts, or even meet with other people who started real-estate investing to talk while I buy them coffee or dinner. 

It'd be great to have some people physically around me to keep me accountable.

I know many people that would laugh at such a request.

It has been suggested to call these people 1hr prior to the showing time to verify they still plan to come.

. $140 equity in our primary residence that we’d be open to getting a HELOC on (would love feedback on if people recommend this or not).Given our limited available resources for down payment, high home prices, and higher interest rates, is now a bad time for first time investors to enter the market?

I think you'll be able to help a lot of people here! 

People fill up when they leave their house on the way to work. 

I'd really like to hear from people who have a 4 bed pool house near Disney if $48K per year net revenue is realistic.

You'd be surprised just how many people are living paycheck to paycheck. 

I would try to find people who are in the position you want to be, try to provide them some type of value, and ask how they did it.