. $550 out of pocket as an isolated incident is a small price to pay to tighten up the back end processes.

As long as my manager collects rent in separate accounts, will each cell truly be isolated from each other?

You have crawl before you walk, one thing you don’t want to do is be isolated at home where there are too many distractions and nothing going on.

I had interviews with several of these internet real estate gurus regarding their mentorship programs, but as soon as they mention me paying some ridiculous start up fee or splitting a 50/50 profit for the work I solely will do; then I am in the wind.

If someone slips and falls on the property and they sue you it can help isolate your personal assets from the property.

From then on, I either hang up on them or, if I'm bored, jerk them around a bit before hanging up.As of now, I've only isolated four gurus who are actually doing deals and will only consider their information as being valid and worthy of spending BIG dollars on to learn (two are in the Boston are, one is in Virginia, and one is in Atlanta).

The first thing I would do in your shoes is to ensure that my personal assets are isolated from my business assets and my business assets are isolated from one another, in order to protect yourself from a suit. 

Once you have isolated the concern ("besides this, is there anything else that concerns you") you can adress it.I just bought a property I was trying to list for a third less than I was going to list it (suggesting they have to fix it up a bit) and I almost did not ask enough questions to really understand what they wanted.Fortunatley I did not make an offer, but asked them instead how much they would take for it.

These are usually isolated incidents and I don't think it should marr the entire industry but it is indicative of "you need to check up on your investment". 

Can you isolate the Laundry Room and do a quick leak down test?