Has anyone here closed an actual deal with Elite Funding Group LLC or have any comments on their upfront fee request?

This is a good question.I found that meetups are kind of like you described not much really happens there and for sure REIAs and their monthly meeting kind of the same people talking about the same thing then bring in ( at least what i have seen with the PDX reia) folks that are presenting on things that worked decades ago.. and want to sell their stuff for a few grand.For me personally the best networking hands down was SF Bay Area events  San Jose Reiaand LA  FIBI events.folks in those markets are very real estate centric and generally more experienced and in San Jose so many tech folks that have done really really well.. maybe not in RE but have done great in TECH and have quite a bit of bandwidth for investments..

Have your agent start to look for properties that will do the 1031 now.See my comments in recent post. 

Can you expand on your comments that the student housing properties were bought using extremely optimistic projections and at an extreme premium to the Market?

But appreciation in Detroit has been next to none over the last several years, and with entry level prices being under 100k it presents a real opportunity for investors!

I am trying to find an alternative model I might present to folks I know that inherit properties beyond the traditional sell it, or LTR it, without renovation for less money?  

This comment has factually incorrect information.

I saw the potential to cash flow when the opportunity presented itself I jumped on it.

This question crossed my mind recently after reading a post and some comments discussing whether an investor is experienced enough to raise capital from outside sources.

The 45 days identification time sometimes presents a challenge and if you dont give yourself a little wiggle room you might end up buying something you dont necessarily want/like.