One of them accidentally paid for January rent because of auto pay and is now requesting it back.

Either he's paying rent or isn't. 

Turns out, the right marketing found renters who appreciated the quality and were willing to pay a premium.

Learn to control your spending and pay off debt.

I also think the market is so slow that if an investor is paying attention they will see a trend forming and can react in before there is material shift in values. 

If the deal is good enough their may be enough returns to pay investors as well as yourself.

The management company stopped sending statements and stopped paying me rent at some point. 

On another note, I don't like the idea of paying all-cash. 

You have to pay people to do things for you, you would normally do yourself.

When you want coaching, you sign up for and pay for coaching in the niche you want to crush in and you shouldn't do that until you have tried a decent amount on your own, gone to meetups for a year, and figured out what you want to do first.Wholesale coaching is out there, but there are a lot of charlatans.