I would look for active investors/syndicators in the desired target market. I agree with you it would be an excellent idea to start by participating in one of those deals as an investor. Ounce your in it will be much easier to connect the dots and reverse engineer the whole process! I actually had a kind of similar experience/dilemma but in different industry, I was trading oilseeds/grains from dubai but had decided it was time for a career move and I wanted to switch to trading cacao/cashew nuts sourced from Ivory Coast. I found one of the most respected traders for that market and signed a deal to buy some small quantity from him (I didn't make much money on that trade :) ). But to make a long story short, from that opportunity we became friends and he learned me the whole business inside out.
I will be attending the seminar by real estate radio guys in early march, not sure what to expect. In terms of names as some people previously said and I agree with them is Gino/Rod Keith they both have some great content and you can feel the passion/they are genuine about educating students.
without naming names about who to avoid, personally I would watch out for some patterns:
-If they make money only from educating and don't actually have a track record or an investment business
-promise success or money
-the free content produced is not actual tangible information, but its used only as a bait to buy a course/coaching
