to your point, if you save up so that you're in a strong financial position, house hack a solid duplex in a decent neighborhood, make smart decisions, and hold it indefinitely, you'll be fine.conversely, if you have $0 and somehow start out with a risky flip, or borrow $20K and spend it all on a magic mentoring program, or buy a terrible property in a neighborhood you've never been to, you may not be fine.

No coach is going to offer a magic pill and bolster your balance sheet.

I'm in a bit of a situation
My wife and her parents are selling a duplex they own together.
My wife is trusting me to re invest into cash positive investments.
We could stand to take as much as a quarter million, a...

deals will be what you make of them - there is nothing magic about going thousands of miles away just for a slightly lower price point. 

Caution: you said the magic words "I'm in California" so every out of state real estate agent and probably wholesaler on BP is going to contact you. 

No magic, simple math.

You magically get the seller to cover every single closing cost (A $12k gift, or a trick to get you to buy their problem.).

Thanks, Kyle As I said before, when someone becomes motivated they don't magically appear on some sort of list.

There are no magic markets or secrets out there.

None of these programs contains magic.