Furthermore, they will pay the monthly rent to my company regardless of occupancy, so the 5K/month is assured.

My take away is that you have found that, at least in your setting: 1) You don't have any expectation of getting tenants for a new property during the semester in which you closed on the property. 2) Having a long lead time of several to 10 months before the semester starts to market the a property helps assure that the new property is filled when the semester starts. 3) Because of these realities, it makes the most sense to close on a new property about 10 months  prior to the fall semester for which you are targeting the best rate and occupancy, to give plenty of lead time for marketing. 4) Expect, therefore, that whenever a new property is added, at whatever time of the year the deal closes, expect to have no income for several months, but it pays to market as soon as possible. 

I assure you, I’ve been around the block a few times—though not quite as many times as I’d like when I’m out running errands!

I assure you there are sharks looking for chum; and YES, vet those sponsors. 

I can assure you they don't have all real estate titled the same.A lender will finance your real estate because the real estate makes sense, your track record/balance sheet  and your personal guarantee.

Rest assured; the process is designed to be straightforward. 

And both the contractor and agent assured me that this isn't anything too crazy which is good.

Rest assured; the process is designed to be straightforward. 

I'm sure most of them believe they are doing good, however I assure you, you can have a much more legitimate sales job.

We're comfortable with that though as we want assurances that their financials are healthy.