And there is a constant mention of Guaranteed returns there is no Guarantee unless its the federal govmit on 250k or less FDIC insured .. this was simply investor greed.. investors did not understand what they were investing in what the risks were and were blinded by the returns offered.. no one put a gun to their head.. investor make bad investments all the time..  

Leveraging your friend's connections in Provo could lower risk and give you a head start, especially if the market fundamentals are strong.

The hardest part is finding the right people  to talk to i.e sellers, lenders, contractors, and not stopping until you find them the rest will fall into place because you have thw info in your head and a mentor(jerome) that will guide you when you get your deal rolling.

I went to the free event and was seriously hashing it in my head leaning towards pulling  just $1,500 for the 3 day event.

. ; ) LOL, the changes of me being cloned are more than a million to one, if she actually cuts the mustard, I'll buy you dinner and hers and her program, but I really doubt she teaches all that goes with the basics of real estate for investors, I've never head of such a course, much less seen one. :) 

I definitely need to do more analysis in terms of comparing against other rentas in the area and ideal beds and heads count. 

Quote from @Jonathan Klemm: Sounds like you are no doubt heading in the right direction @Jason B.!  

Maybe when I'm an ol' head exiting the growth phase I'll start caring about paying them down, but I'll do that with cash flow not borrowed money.

@Ashish Acharya: You hit the nail on its head !!

. :-)I agree though - get them involved in a real way (having them help write/advise/ formulate the goals) this will get into their heads faster than just plain talk.I would add this: maybe for the second 'meeting', go on a Field Trip!