Finally, are there any resources: podcasts, books, etc. that you'd recommend?

Anyone reading this thread should make it a point to read your state's real estate contract practice book or at minimum pull a list of all C.A.R. forms from the internet and read the title of each form and pick a few to read line by line to begin understanding the contract language. 

While all the posts have at lease some legitimate points, I personally believe camp 1 is missing the opportunities present to protect assets under US law mostly because they don’t either understand asset protection, or don’t want to bother with it, so rather than do a proper evaluation they dismiss it as something that won’t work to justify their unwillingness to entertain the idea.Camp 2 is deluding themselves - which delusion has been enhanced by charlatans writing books, giving seminars, and selling packaged plans all of which either attempt to hide your assets or hide the ownership of your assets.  

Consulting with a zoning attorney is advisable to assess the feasibility of your project and guide you through the necessary procedures.Hope this helps!

Start learning with books, podcasts, courses, networking, building a support system, and preparing for financing.

I’ve educated myself with books like Rich Dad Poor Dad and real estate podcasts, and I know I’ll succeed.I’d love advice from others who’ve been in my shoes: Is it okay to start investing in a different area if one strategy isn’t working?

All of those factors will guide you on doing a buy down.

Buy than Build by Walker Deibel is a great book for Business purchasing, it talks about structure and evaluating. 

Do they actually deliver on what they promise as far as providing their members deals, and guiding them through the buying and rehab process?

Literally everything one should, or shouldn't be, do, know, act, will all be correctly guided from those 3 words.