Most firms these days are leaning toward virtual meetings, so you don’t necessarily need to limit yourself locally.Since you’re already at 3 doors, you’ll want someone who’s more of an advisor, someone who can help you plan ahead, not just prep your taxes.

It’s great that you’re taking the time to study markets and build a strong foundation.

if you want the basics of being a landlord and dealing with teh day to day, they brandon's original book on rental properties was the one that made me realize "oh it is actually just this simple" the numbers in there are likely dated at this point but the principles are the same.most of this industry and world is relationships, and communication, so candidly if you want to be successful spend some time studying how people make decisions and what goes into market trends and manipulation.  

Even if you have $1million....your limit is just higher than mine - you still have a limit!  

I get that you’ll need a cost seg study for the exact breakdown, but has anyone done this recently?

The more you study up, the more you'll learn about which REI niches match you best.

But I have also recently been studying covered call ETFs.

✅ Are you studying a strategy (BRRRR, buy-and-hold, house hack)?

That being said, the ability to use depreciation from a cost seg study to offset W-2 income hinges on either you or your spouse qualifying as a real estate professional (REPS), which you mentioned.

For most of my 40+ years investing in real estate I’ve stuck to direct investment in real property and direct investment in notes, with some limited partnership interests thrown in.