Newbie to Vinyl Seeks Tips

Why make a major purchase (Fluance tt) ahead of asking for help?

My experience with other equipment is people generally recommend what they own or what is expensive so not that helpful.  The Project or Rega tables were the other obvious choices but were a bit more expensive and I wanted the Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge.  And if I hate it I can simply return it easily.  I suspect the Fluance, despite its great reviews and features, doesn't have the audiophile credibility that would get it much love on here.

Man, where to start without sounding patronizing or condescending? You will quickly have more money tied up in records than equipment if you get the bug, and a lot of desirable records are not new and you can’t buy them on Amazon, but have to hunt for them. Copies turn up on the Internet via places like E-Bay and Discogs, but you do have to know a little.
I guess I’d start with what kind of music you like and what you want to explore.
Amazon is great for new issues of things, but in many cases, not all, new records aren’t fully analog-- the source material was digitized and the record is cut from a digital master. Not that there is anything wrong with that if that was how the record was originally made, e.g. a newer release, but for older treasures, you will probably find more joy in earlier issues that didn’t have digitization as part of the process. (Nothing against digital, but folks looking for the analog experience won’t get the full measure with a reissue taken from a digital master, though in some cases, that may be the only way a particular record is affordable or even findable today).
Cleaning-- there are best practices observed in manual cleaning; I find that a machine helps in removing the fluid and water rinse steps; I also use ultrasonic. Much has been written about this subject- in my estimation, it is less about equipment and more about method. There is no "magic bullet"---
The tough part about acquiring records is condition. A record can look ok but suffer from groove chew due to play on kludgey, improperly aligned equipment or can have surface scuffs, hairlines and assorted uglies but sound fine. We hit bottom in the U.S. during the oil crisis; the fancy made for audiophile records will not only set you back costwise, but are typically limited to tried and true best-selling stuff that gets reissued repeatedly. Sometimes, a reissue can actually improve on the sound of a mass market record that was made during the heyday of vinyl but in many cases, you are paying for a brand name mastering engineer, a "special" vinyl compound and fancy packaging.
At my peak, I had about 17,000 LPs. I’ve skinnyed that down to around just under 6k records, taking into account those I’ve bought in the last few years.
There are various pockets of knowledge- the classical guys might not know jazz, and those guys might not know rock in its myriad forms. There are various blogs for different genres. The London Jazz Collector is considered a top tier blog for Blue Notes, Strata East and other blue chip jazz records. I even write a blog, but am all over the place, musically, and my taste may not be yours. So, I’d start with what kind of music you like, what you want to acquire and if you are lucky enough to live in an area that has a good retail trade in brick and mortar stores, with used bins, you read, research, take a few chances, get tips from others and get immersed. I get turned on to a lot of records from other people. Ten years ago I wasn’t listening to much jazz. Now, that’s pretty much 80% of my listening-- and that can change. (To me, jazz was a real learning experience because though I knew some of the big names and some of famous albums, I really didn’t know much beyond that. Spending time listening, finding artists you like and tracking their progress on other releases can lead you to some jewels).
Good luck and welcome to the fold,
Bill Hart

Cleaning:
Spin Clean & cleaning fluid. Use once for dirty albums
Record brush Use before each play
ZeroStat for static as needed
Stylus brush

Good Rules To Follow
Use the cuing device when lowering stylus on the record
Use the cuing device when lifting stylus off the record
NEVER touch the record grooves
Get a GOOD Phono preamp
Clean records should have no pops & clicks
Always return the record to its inner sleeve & cover after play.
Store Records upright, not laid flat
Keep records away from heat. 
Vinyl play is NOT Convenient. But it IS rewarding. 
Vinyl is for listening, not chores, reading, playing cards, etc. Digital is      for those activities.
Learn the Goldmine standard of record grading. It will serve you well when you go shopping for used records. Don't play anything less than VG+. Anything below that will have surface noise, pops, clicks and maybe skips. Plus it is not good on your stylus.
ENJOY The Journey. 

Use these as rules and you will have a good sound and a good time. If these are too cumbersome, go back to digital cause you will not enjoy vinyl. Good luck

For cleaning, the best by far is the Walker Enzyme 4 step method. The full kit is expensive but you can buy the refills cheap and then use your own brush, the MoFi brushes are excellent.  

Once records are cleaned then unless your home is especially dirty and dusty you won't touch them for a long time, but just use ZeroStat and blow off the occasional speck of dust. 

You are close enough you are welcome to come over some time I could line it up to clean some records so you see first hand what I'm talking about. Surprised you got records last I heard you had no interest. Guess you heard what you heard here and that was enough to get you hooked? ;)