I'm starting out doing redeemable tax deeds and going to auctions where everybody has "bigger pockets" than I do.

You must work at least 750 hours per year in a qualified RE business.So most people who have high-earning W-2 jobs outside of real estate won't qualify.But the unique thing about RE pro status is that even if you don’t qualify but your spouse does, you can both file jointly and claim the losses from your RE investments to offset your other active income together.It's an incredibly powerful benefit if you do meet the criteria.

Became very unresponsive very quickly, did not complete agreed upon work, made false claims about capacity and what they would do, etc.

What's even more frustrating than asking the IRS help desk, is asking a Turbo Tax "Tax Specialist".

@Robert Zajac pretty sure BRB charges less than an 8% management fee, so just as @Nathan Gesner states, they are making up for being below the "industry standards" by charging more elsewhere.BE CAREFUL about PMCs that claim they don't charge a markup on maintenance - TIME IS ALWAYS MONEY!

No, I've not invested with SCDC, and it's not likely I will without evidence they can do / have done what they've claimed on their web site.

The programs that claim high success, over and over again, are the ones that appear on these forums a few years later with students making claims about misrepresentation by the programs. 

They claim they do all of the marketing, connect with the leads, negotiate the deal, and close it.

What about the utilities, property taxes, maintenance and repairs, capex, etc. are any of those optional for you?

Any repair (perhaps over a certain number of repairs) or time spent on a door outside of routine management is a "claim."