Personally for what people charge for these programs I would say you are 1000x  better off taking some courses at a local college, getting a degree and working in real estate to get paid for experience and then do real estate on the side for your own portfolio as well.

Do you rely more on the deal itself or the person behind it?

Is your goal to use being an agent for your own personal investments or actively try and grow your agent business to eventually leave your W2?

Personally, I do not like any strategy or approach that aims to benefit from the misfortune of others.

I have two books to recommend, one podcast, and then one more summit happening in person in May for syndication investors.

The property is insured on your behalf, personally. 

I want to start smart and scale up as I learn the ropes, but I’m personally struggling to narrow down which area to focus on.If you’ve done this before, what advice would you give someone like me?

Awesome to see a new investor-minded person here.. do you have a favorite real estate success story already?

I will caution you that if they pull something like this and you immediately start offering any concessions as is repeatedly addressed above - this type of personality will make note of that and the threats will be ongoing for the duration of their tenancy.

I've personally helped many OOS investors here and they've been very happy with returns.