Go to meetups in your area and start making contacts.

If you know anything about building in Philly the plans and permits can be the hardest part of the project with it often taking many months to get everything in place just to be able to start construction.

I live in San Diego and Im also looking to start investing out of state with little to no experience.

b) How do i get started (like find properties that fit my criteria/constraints and then vet them, given I will likely be out of state) ?

My parents are starting to rent out part of their home instead of just letting my kids live there.

While it's always best to have a plan for how you are going to execute your exit strategy BEFORE you get started, if you're like me and just jump in you could easily find yourself wondering how to execute this plan if your initial plan runs into problems.BP is full of great advice on refinancing and if you just post that is what you're looking for, the vendors will come out of the woodwork. 

Do this first deal to completion before starting the next one to see if it works out. 

I'm an software engineer on W2 and she started as real estate agent about 2yrs ago.

I am a living example that real estate, starting from practically nothing, can take you places.

What’s the best way to get started using BiggerPockets?