At 19, your friends may not understand your drive.

My understanding is this is the correct way to do it for these reasons: Renter's insurance is for renters, landlord insurance is for landlords. 

Even after moving 2.5 years ago, I continued to self-manage because I had a solid network of connections that made it pretty easy to handle remotely.That said, it eventually came down to wanting my time back.

I am obviously conflicted with the moral side of pursuing legal action here, but understand that people can do untruthful things when it comes to financial gains. 

Seller wants $160,000 cash out which leaves $50,000 in equity for the buyer.I had a taker from CA but he couldn't come up with the cash.I was not aware of anyone that understands that kind of deal.  

Your goal is to build a passive real estate portfolio (we can discuss what passive means to you), so while I don't condone throwing $100k into a deal without even a basic understanding, alternatively doing so will teach you far more lessons than reading a book will.  

I've been doing some studying on short sales but still working to understand it better.

You might want to double check he understands the scale of the project you're asking him to do. 

I'll get with a CPA next week to understand REPS status better. 

My goal is to gain a solid understanding of the process, master deal analysis, and ultimately close my first deal.Right now, I’m focused on learning the basics — from finding motivated sellers to building a strong network of cash buyers.