I'm very serious about getting into real estate investing, just want to get a grasp on all the different strategy's to see which approach I want to take! 

I have a grasp on this, however have never done an owner financed situation or sub 2 and don't want to scare this guy off.  

I've also been attending the MNreia monthly meetings and trying to grasp as much information as I can about real estate investing.My goal as of right now is to find a mentor that is willing to teach me how to find and evaluate wholesale deals around the Minneapolis area.

@Steve Haight thanks steve, I want to tackle a  multifamily but i don't want to do anything that would interfere with the current deal on my primary residence. im not trying to slow down, only grow and get better. im trying to get a grasp on the other methods of financing. all of this is new to me.

It's pretty basic and it sounds like you have a good grasp on the bulk of the process.

I researched the local market, estimated rehab costs, had my realtor run a CMA (She chose some properties slightly out of market due to lack of sales),  etc.I thought I had a good grasp of the after repair value of the home.The lower appraisal is not going to break me, but I just feel that he is being lazy and not using all of the information available to him to properly assess the value of my home.One other thing that he keeps mentioning in emails is that the kitchen and master bath is superior to most homes in this price range (price range of his comps) but the living area and baths are similar to most homes in this price range.  

Serious stuff, mortgage fraud - people can and have gone to jail for it, even in RI.Second, I almost always recommend against a new investor buying a condo for their first investment property, unless s/he already has an existing relationship to that particular condominium association/complex (owning another unit in there, being on the board, etc.).There are just too many issues that seem to come up with other condo units, the condo association rules, ratio of owners to renters, condo association board politics, special assessments coming down the road, how professionally (or unprofessionally) the condo board manages the building and its finances, and - importantly - the fact that you have no control over the HOA fees but are required to pay them.New investors are almost by definition unable to grasp the complexities of the condo association they would be joining and unable to understand that they are tying their financial fate to a group of people who may or may not be managing the property and its finances well.

. - once you have a decent grasp of the basics try creating a spreadsheet to calculate key metrics like cap rate, CoC, ...

I’ve researched them and can’t quite get the grasp of what all it does.

LLCs and Land Trusts are excellent avenues to limit you and your companys liabilities, however neither of them provide complete protections to removing those assets from the grasps of courts or creditors in situations where they may be attached--meaning that even with the limits of liability that legal structures may provide you, how you us the properties and attach their ownership in relation to your business activities, can still make them accessible in certain situations.I would offer that the best thing you can do is speak with a legal professional about the intricacies of your business plans, family plans, and wealth strategies.