I was told by a friend that his dad who runs an appliance business has "keys to every type of washer/dryer coin box".

I have been to Rod Kleif events, I now Micael Blank and Dave Lindahl students, I am even friends with a coach for Apartment Educators. 

So before dismissing your options, you may want to consult an investor friendly Lender who is an out of the box thinker.

I have an 18 year old friend who plays competitive baseball and is a beast in real estate with his mentor. 

If not, maybe you can partner with family or friends.

You want to talk to friends and family on this, I don't know anyone who would see this on the Internet and be like, yeah, this sounds like exactly what I am looking to do with my money.

What educational real estate avenues are GI Bill friendly?

Stessa is an excellent, user-friendly platform for tracking income and expenses for investors.

This specific deal was a close friend's apartment that he was renting.

Ben Franklin used similar advice to turn an enemy into a friend (although his was asking to borrow a book).There are some caveats here, you cannot be wasting time thus you need to demonstrate that you are taking action.