Over the next 5–10 years, I plan to scale to a portfolio of rental properties and eventually diversify into syndications.I’m particularly interested in the Lynchburg, VA market and other areas with strong rental demand.What I Bring to the Table:I’ve been saving aggressively, and I’m exploring physician loans to help get started with minimal upfront costs.I’ve done a lot of reading (shoutout to BiggerPockets books!)

That shows real estate can be possible for anyone; in my opinion, I know everyone has unique and challenging situations, but in principle, anyone who can follow some basic budget fundamentals can save up enough for a down payment.Grateful BiggerPockets continues to bring more people into the industry!

These were investments, the value of the assest are there, its the liquid that ran short and had to resort to credit cards to fix up the propertyYou spent $50k from savings, borrowed $50k from a 401k, and are paying it back over five years at around 7.5% interest, then borrowed another $40k from credit cards and are paying that back at around 8% interest, maybe more.

It's great that you're focused on saving and educating yourself before diving into real estate.

I currently do not have enough funds to fund a down payment and am trying to find the most efficient way to save.

At 6% I’ve only saved $360k, but you would have saved $720k, an extra $72k/yr.

My plan is to take the next six months to try and learn as much as possible about multifamily real estate, while also saving up money to be able to start a career in brokerage.

It’s like you bought the properties with a 30 year loan and are putting the rest in to a savings account.

Personally I'm against these types of programs, especially 5-figure ones.

It's not worth hiring a lawyer but as you suggested, small claims court may be an option IF you hired them in your personal capacity OR if your jurisdiction allows LLC owners to go to small claims and represent the LLC in court (many, most?