Is it worth joining for educational and training purposes? 

So you would likely need to go business purpose like private money or DSCR financing.

For illustration purposes, it's quite normal to acquire a mix use building consisting of 9 residential units + 1 commercial space for less than a 9 unit multi-family building would trade in the equivalent location because the commercial space is an automatic disqualifier for many investors.

This is definitely not the cheapest way to get leads, but it is effective. 

This also leads owners to ASSUME simpler is better when it comes to management contracts.

Several things to consider: 1) One of the main purposes of segmenting your assets into separate LLC's is so that your personal net worth or equity in other business ventures or properties isn't exposed, so unless you have a high net worth or a lot of equity in a property, it might not be worth bothering going the separate LLC route, especially when it restricts your financing of the property.  2) Most any commercial financing you get from a local bank for a small property is going to have recourse anyhow and require that you sign a personal guarantee, so you're still personally on the hook to the bank even in the case of a commercial loan.  3) If you're a newer investor and buying a deal that's tight on cash flow, or if you don't have a ton of cash sitting in the bank already, your greatest risk factor as an investor is your investment failing economically due to poor financing terms or not operating the investment properly, not because you get sued. 

This leads me to explore Short Term Rentals.

I am in the Philadelphia / PA / DE / NJ area but for the purposes of sharing experiences, anywhere is great. 

.: I was always under the impression that a VA loan could not be assumed for investment purposes and that it must be for a primary residence, which typically means occupancy of the residence for a year. 

Our business-purpose rental loans currently start at 6.25%+, which is lower than conventional or fha - fyi.