Interested in meeting some people within in the industry in the Omaha area.

We both work in the property management industry that deals with SFR.  

Welcome Brad, I am sure there are many mentors or investors in your local reia that would be willing to answer questions for a fee for your first few deals.However, I would submit that although a mentor is important, what is much much more important in this industry is to begin taking "money making actions" now.

They are overused in the industry and have issues; some of which you have pointed out.

Despite our profession revolving around the exchange of properties, we have a duty, much like those in the medical and legal industries, to realize the human factor in our product and services.

I don't know that it was quite that simple, but in essence it's true.I had no budget apart from what was in my bank account, no experience either as a trainer or business owner, getting started in luxury industry (a relatively obscure one at the time) at the cusp of the Great Recession.

Speaking as someone who does industrial electrical systems engineering that provides documents exactly as you have described, this would be a large amount of work.The one line diagram, panel schedule, grounding, lighting and outlet plan, fixture schedule, and panel locations would all be separate drawings taking anywhere from 20-40 hours of work a piece depending on how readily available the needed information is.We have whole teams of people who work to produce drawings like these and we charge clients $60-100/hr for just the design and engineering consulting (drawing creation).

Giving them the benefit of the doubt, that it is true, the net effect is that it allows poor performing sites to completely hide their poor performance from the public.Until it becomes common for sites to post their history online and keep it updated, this is going to be a hanging cloud over the industry.

After taking a few years away from my studies (graduated 2 months before Lehman Brothers collapsed so real estate industry was put on hold), I've decided to start investing and putting my income from my internet businesses into property.The last 5 years I've owned a restaurant, worked for Disney, sold cruises, and have been doing internet marketing since Summer 2008.I'm looking to pick up 2-4 unit properties and, if possible, live in one of the units.

I am currently working in the telecommunications industry and have zero experience in real estate investment.