Josh and Brandon are goofy an easily distracted lol but relateable and they ask the best questions of their guests.  

So once again, is this an opportunity or a distraction?

Another thing, you may allready done, is to locate an office that is convenient and has minimal distractions.You can locate your office is in your place if you can close it off and have minimal distractions that are personal things.  

The borrower, let's call him Joe, was so excited, so concerned, so concerned in asking for, let me say begging for, that loan that their "greenest" showed through and actually distracted from the common sense and scope of a request for such a small amount.

You ought to get a pre-approval loan letter that states how long a closing should take and a maximum amount to submit with your offers.You might want to pick out a place to office where you have the least distractions.  

What I'm wondering is: Is this a good path to a thorough and effective education in real estate or a distraction that will take away time, energy, and $ from what I'm really trying to do?

Sounds like an interesting contest . . . seems like it could become a real distraction if you got caught up in it.

Obviously I don't want it too low, may attract distracting other offers.

However when getting started find the thing the resonates the most with you and try to focus on that so you can really understand it, move forward without distraction and get really good at it before splitting focus onto a new strategy.

The psychology of these 3 day pitch meetings if you don't know what they're doing is this...Supposedly they are giving away free training to implement but they're holding back.And they are "conditioning you very subtly" over those period of 3 days.I've seen this for over 30 years and are fairly immune to their psychological devices.I really believe that "anything of real value" that they're saying can be found here at BiggerPockets.There's so many distractions in real estate investing, there is always a "new shiny object", always "some very urgent and important thing to learn".If more people would just focus on one strategy, or get a coach that's reliable and proven, and listen to that coach and not focus on other things, chances are they would create some profitable business, and be happier and not confused.I think wholesaling and retailing- rehabbing is not a good place for many people.I think learning how to talk to sellers and offering them a cash offer and a terms offer is the way to get started.Terms offers include subject to, wraparound mortgages, lease options, installment sales on free and clear houses, and more.