I prefer to remain leveraged and benefit from tax benefits while I grow my portfolio.

The rental losses would not be eligible to offset your other income(Ordinary income or portfolio income).

I have read may books and listening to all the podcasts specially BP and trying to start growing my network.

If you are doing all of your own renovations, you can only grow so big.

Sounds like you need to find the right private capital partner that is familiar with working and helping real estate investors like you grow their business.  

I live in NC so my answer may be biased- however the southeast has shown great progress during COVID and is continuing to grow.

As a realtor I LOVE working and educating other people to grow in their RE career.

Maybe you can help them get on a better path as well and you can grow together!

I would like to attend meetups and conferences to learn and grow my network.

I feel like I have a good pulse on the local market, but am curious if anyone has tips for identifying markets.I feel like my area is a good buy-and-hold market as the city is actively growing and the houses are appreciating considerably.