However, it's been my experience that the "take it or leave it" route is the best way to deal with students in pretty much every aspect.

It may not seem like a lot, but it really saves a lot of time to focus on other tasks/aspects! 

I do like the auditing aspects, though—isn’t that something EAs are knowledgeable about too?

He just hosted a get-together - a Family Reunion - where we took a deep dive into various aspects of BRRRR, how to source deals and a look at how he is rehabbing the hotel we were at that he owns.

I should have also added that the reason I am pulled towards real estate as a wealth generating mechanism (I.e. the appreciation aspect) is that I bought my first house with ~$20K of my own money in Baltimore (supplemented with 6K of grants), bought at the right time and did a little fixing it up, used the proceeds from sale of Baltimore home to get into the lower end of the market in quickly appreciating Seattle.

I am looking for any type of avenue that would give me first hand experience in any aspect of real estate investing, managing, etc. 

Hi @Philip Jones,For the refinance aspect, the main factors will be the FICO Score, cash flow of the property, and as-is value.A Higher FICO will let you get a larger loan size and lower interest rate.Good Cash Flow will ensure that your property will be profitable for you and enable you to get the max loan size that your FICO allows for.The As-is Value will play an important role in making sure that you meet the minimum requirement for a DSCR loan of 100k, but also in making sure that the rehab work that has been done provided significant value add.

Need to look at the other aspects to show the way. 

i think there are obviously a few different aspects to the FIRE movement - 1. discipline on saving and spending. 

Depending on what aspects you would like them to handle vs you then you may be able to negotiate that 20% down lower.Alternatively, look into medium term rentals.