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.

What educational real estate avenues are GI Bill friendly?

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

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.

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. 

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

Akron is a very blue city and are not very landlord friendly - source of income protections, etc...