just a couple of reasons:No one can buy ALL the deals themselves.Many monetization feeds on a highly ranked site (book sales, pro membership, etc) Trust through notoriety can have a high return on investment (see M.I/oceanpointe for negative example)None of these are good or bad in and of themselves.

I started work a week prior to closing and at closing the deal almost got derailed because sellers weren't truthful about plat survey and property lines.

I'm in a very similar situation and just started my Bigger Pockets membership.

With survey, lawyers' fees, title search you are over 3k and that is without finance points.

There are no lawyer's fees, survey costs, environmental studies, inspections .....

The 2018 second quarter RealtyRates Investor survey says that apartment cap rates are on average between 4.9-13.8 nationwide depending on LTV, but the survey is not limited to recent acquisitions and I assume that those that participate in the survey know what they are doing .So this bring me back to my question: for those who are actually set up to responsibly invest but don't have the experience or network to hit the 15% CoC returns in today's market where the pros are also claiming good deal are hard to come by, is shooting for the 5 cap cash purchase on their first deal to learn the ropes a crazy idea?

Yet in google type in Biggerpocket with the same search term, and you'll get results.I don't know whether the difference has to do with the type of membership you have in Biggerpockets. 

Commercial real estate is partially about the property value, but mostly the value is derived from potential cash flow.Start with a market rent survey.

Ok here's the link:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/57...There's also a website you can go to for the REIAs, here's salt lake city's:https://slreia.comAnd the Utah one:https://www.utahreia.orgI think the REIAs have a membership fee though, but I haven't been to one yet so don't quote me on that. 

If financed you can tack on points, origination, appraisal, survey, lender title insurance.