How trustworthy are they and are you confident in their ability to help?

Hey Bigger Pockets community, I'm just starting out in Step 1 (get educated) on what I want to become a successful career in real estate investment.I also currently run an e-commerce business that is currently completely online, but would benefit from having a brick & mortar storefront, and I had an idea that maybe using the investment capital I'm looking to allocate into real estate into a commercial property my business can operate out of until I decide to sell the property in or rent it out to another business.I am obviously very naive when it comes to the complexity of any good real estate deal (especially commercial VS residential), but I'm hoping to spend as much time learning from everyone here who is on their journey as well.My main concern with the idea of buying commercial to operate my business out of it that I might struggle to rent it out afterwards and that there may likely be depreciation in the commercial real estate market over the next 5 years.I understand there is a lot of nuance depending on the local market but I'm guessing commercial is even less of a "safe" bet than finding a solid residential deal to leverage in some way.

This is a humongous audience to tap into so you have to take advantage of it sooner rather than later to find great real estate deals and motivated sellers.Your best bet to connect with people quickly is to run Facebook ads and promoted posts.

Their solution was for me to take over ownership of not one but five homes from Jeff's portfolio, all of which I had sold him and subsequently leased.Despite my being patently unfinanceable, the bank president placed a bet on me because I knew the homes, I knew the tenants, I knew what I was doing, and I was rabidly hungry.

Building a trustworthy team will be key. 

I'm 25k out of pocket for permits and clearing.I bet the pre-permitted 10 contiguous lots on the river would appraise for at least 150k.Am i being overly optimistic?

PG's are worthless those that have PGs that are worth anything dont need gap funding they have the cash.this is a play for folks you know well .. not for internet facebook BP etc.. people that do this do it because they know you like you trust you and think your a good operator.Public has to many other choices that are much safer bet.. its not always about ROI with those with money..

If you have deep pockets, I think Austin will eventually reward you, but if you are a newbie in real estate looking to cash flow positive day one or shortly thereafter, Austin is probably not your best bet in TEXAS.  

If I were a betting man the company is folding up and this dutch character is out there doing the guru circuit as only source of $ and idiots will pay for training from someone like this.  

It isn't impossible but as @Jimmy Lieu mentioned, there is a steep learning curve.Depending on your liquidity, out-of-state buy & hold rentals could be your best bet if NYC investing is out of the picture.