New to REI in Georgia

Hello BP fam!

I’m in Georgia and brand new to real estate investing. My initial goal is to house hack, purchasing a small multi-family property within the next year, ideally the next 6 months.

I am between Atlanta and Athens and have relatively little savings so unless I find a partner I will likely be using an FHA or USDA loan for my first property. Unfortunately I have only been at my current w2 job for 1 year and I'm hoping this won't prevent me from securing a loan in the next several months.

I know one of my first steps should be to seek pre-approval for a loan, so I am wondering if any other Georgia investors have recommendations for lenders in the area that I should prioritize reaching out to.

Lastly, I want to make networking and hopefully even finding a potential mentor a high priority. So if any of you are investing or otherwise involved in real estate in Georgia I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to get to know you or any investors, lenders, agents, brokers, contractors, inspectors, etc. you may be able to recommend. I am also hoping for recommendations for local REIA meetups that aren't just trying to sell bootcamps with "guru's".

Thanks in advance for your time and any insight you may have, I wish you all the best of luck and success!