You live in one of the most profitable states in the country with far and away the largest GDP and one of the highest housing costs (behind HI and NY) with white collar educated professionals able and willing to pay rent. 

Hard money is probably the most common way flippers leverage to buy a deal, although that requires down payment from you and/or another private investor (usually 10-20% down). 

I would be very interested in meeting up with some of the locals who are currently investing and willing to educate and discuss their stories.

Hi everyone, I have been educating myself to become an investor.

That poor guy is going to be a lawyer his whole life, while your out there taking educated risk, and making it big time.

Definitely a good leveraging tool.

I'll reiterate that at this stage I'm not yet ready to jump on any one property, this is purely an educational exercise for me.

I know a few that lend in 40 states, 25 states, 37 states, etc.You can expect rates between 7-12%, depending on strength of the deal, leverage, experience, and credit. 

I am doing my best to educate myself on the world of real estate in the free time that I have, but I find it best to resource out from people who already know.

https://screencast-o-matic.comScreencast-o-matic is software I sometimes use in my full time job in the field of education