Sometimes lenders will go with a solid estimate based in reality as well.Otherwise, @John Underwood has the best idea.

What is bad is having the gurus collect money from armies of inexperienced, unknowledgeable and under capitalized wanna be investors who then seduce desperate home sellers (who have no idea what they’ve agreed to) into selling their homes without understanding the consequences.  

Any other ideas for how to solve this problem?

Always happy to swap ideas and keep refining this process.

Having cash reserves is always a good idea!!

Great idea, but check your local regulations.

This will help ingrain those ideas into your brain. 

I actually read one of your posts on this topic years ago, which influenced me to carefully choose the right market.  

Do have an idea of your preferred acquisition price and how much rehab might be required? 

They love the idea of wealth, financial freedom, but don't want to put their own financials on the line.