The rest of the week (Sun/Mon/Tues/Wed) is devoted to learning the industry & time I am willing to put towards working for a local investor.

They are not a scam, they are merely a niche product offering with a high level of risk.

San Diego is generally more desirable than Buffalo, so people will devote more of their income to housing, But I bet if you did this formula for every city the rankings would align very closely with the price to rent ratio. https://smartasset.com/mortgage/price-to-rent-rati...If you look at the list, San Antonio and Memphis are near the bottom.

Hello - I had gone to a Liquidation sale in Lake Keowee in August. They advertised sales of $14,9/$19.9 and up. By the time we went there (late evening) all the lots were almost bought up and they had a few facing Lak...

Which is why I believe you see many devoted RE investors.

As an aside in an ever increasing scam prevalent culture, several tenants that I've placed were more comfortable knowing that they were working with a licensed professional using standard forms. 

Upfront money is a red flag for a scam .

. -- so that I have no way to check to see whether this is a scam. 3: Send me offers to buy for cash properties I have never had any sort of interest in, ownership or otherwise. 

I am finding a lot of scam type programs where you have to buy a book and pay for a mentor or investment program to get any help.

I think FEMA has a nice money raising scam going with mandatory flood insurance.