I am at a place in life finally where I can devote the time needed to learn.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”Good luck!

(I am trying to make sure I am not getting scammed, that's why I ask, if not, what is the best way to go about this and avoid paying so much in desk fees/startup fees?

I don’t believe it to be a scam or to hide information from the seller.

(Haven't ruled it out).How do you go about finding people to lend to, make sure that the money is being used for what it is intended, length of time that they have to pay you pay, how much interest to charge, that you don't get ripped off or scammed, etc.

They will give me a few receipts but no detailed, itemized work listed which leads to more questions and now I'm feeling that I have been the victim of a scam.

if you bought with cash you can cashout refi or heloc typically 75% of the equity out of your rentalalso use extreme caution with someone approaching you with a "rent to buy" offer... could be a scam

What are good questions to ask when scanning through a few "private lenders" to make sure I do not get scammed. 

I was thinking you could get scammed that way. 

They managed 70 units for me and agreed to 7.5%.. 10% is like for like 1-5 units.. you need to allow them to manage more units to lower the cost..It's harder for them to scam you and run away if they are using a management platform like buildium and appfolio.. unless they do some manual overrides but at end of day it come down to credibility.. is it worth it for them to scam you and lose license and business?