As a starting point: -If they work full time and make $700k a year -Don't want to or can't spend time self managing a short-term rental -Don't have a spouse who wants to take the lead on managing the rentals They are likely not going to directly reduce their taxable income with real estate year-to-year. 

Expect to spend another ~$8K for that.If you are planning to close all-cash and bring enough cash with you for operating expenses and rehab, you are looking at a minimum capital raise of about $3M and that is for a cheap 32 unit.

If your time is worth $500 an hour I would spend the 5k on 10 hours of searching for a free mentor.

Run your numbers based on youre required return given what youre likely to have to spend and the amount of headache, risk, and work you have to do.

If you are worried about the price then the program isn't for you  but just consider you spend 4 years and about 50 to 100k+ to get a degree that pays you around 75k.

Don't spend the check until it clearsRegulators do not view investors as being altruistic.

But on this specific guy, I jumped on a call to explore the program and it was a high pressure sales call, it did not feel organic, not trustworthy and certainly did not feel the right fit.Why would someone spend 10k on a so niched-down space of real estate when they can get someone for the same amount to teach him/her everything?  

There are many reasons why I haven't pursued the arbitrage model, but mainly that it takes too long for the ROI after investing all your time and effort into buying furniture and renting and paying utilities.Let's say you rent an apartment for $1500 and you spend $7000 to furnished it.

And you are wondering if you should spend lets say $125,000 on a house you have never seen ? 

At one time, I told people to spend money on a skip trace so they could file the in personam QT lawsuit (the one where you can served lawsuit papers on all defendants) and avoid the expense of the in rem QT lawsuit (the one where you need a GAL).