Scammers do exist, and it’s smart to verify a lender’s legitimacy before moving forward.Check Reviews and References: Look for reviews on trusted platforms like BiggerPockets or Google.

While you don't exactly validate his claim..sounds like for many it might be moving that way.Is there any city that could make it a competitive advantage? 

A great way to get started if you currently have a W2 job is to buy a house hack like a duplex or a fourplex where you can move into one of the units and continue to rent/manage the other units.

A good coach can move you along a lot faster and with less headaches.  

We currently accept rent from tenants using a variety of 3rd party apps-Cashapp, Venmo, Zelle but are moving away from accepting payments in our individual names and want to start accepting payments directly to the LLC/business accounts, but LLC accounts do not accept Zelle and there is a fee for using business accounts on Venmo.

This requires more than I can type here in this reply, but essentially there can be more moving parts unless you do it in a sequence.  

Love CLT, I recently moved from South End.

By then I expect to have a clear plan so I can move into action.

I would then interview a few and make a choice as to what one to move forward with.

If the law allows, I will sometimes move the personal items to storage, which is much cheaper than lost rent, so I can clean up the rental and find a new tenant.