If this job popped up out of the blue, your intent was not to move within the 1st year, so you may be ok.If you are planning on building a portfolio of homes, it is safest to stick in your home for 12 months to reduce the appearance of potential fraud. 

He tells you to pay him $5,000 (or much more) to learn all the "secrets" that made him wealth, but then he doesn't tell you that his "secret" was to increase earnings, reduce expenses, save up and invest.

Especially in a high interest rate environment where cash flows on long term rentals are muted and there is significant capital required to purchase and list on airbnb.I live near NYC but would invest out of state in an airbnb / landlord friendly state.

With that said, I've done some research on the market and found the following information helpful in my considerations for Phoenix that you might find helpful as well:  Demand for both buying and renting property remains high due to the city's strong economy and growing population. 

you live and die by your sub contractor relationships.. this is the key in my mind.

He scaled with quality, going full-on luxury top-shelf.

Those that own it can be harder to sell as the cash flow from the business will cover the debt service for the business, but not for the real estate.Example: I had a very high-end assisted living facility on the market. 

If you are using it to buy a turnkey property which needs to produce cash flow to be considered a viable deal how does buying turnkey(Little to no cash flow) combined with HML(High interest only debt) make alot of sense financially? 

you can use a DSCR loan if your DTI is too high for conventional. 

It's acceptable as an area though the flips I saw weren't great quality.