What really bothers me is these so-called gurus are all using the same model... entice you with glitz and glamour of how you can become a "Real Estate Genius" by using there systems only to find out after you have paid thousands of dollars to them most of the info they teach can be found for free or at least minimal costs.  

If you are not a real estate professional and bonus depreciation is limited to 40% starting Jan 1, the tax benefits are going to be pretty minimal unless I am missing something. 

You can purchase the first one with a private loan from your dad or cash to minimize risk, and leverage a second or third property with a bank loan and the rest of your cash.

Part of the “problem” is that unqualified  syndicators tend to take money from anyone who meets minimal governmental requirements.  

It makes sense to have standards, especially when you’re working with tenant-occupied properties and need to minimize unnecessary showings.

Only issue is you have minimal insight on monthly performance unless you download the bank statement and then build custom charts in excel or google sheets. 

As for the interest rate, it does help being 0% minimizing the cost but even if there was an interest rate, as long as you have enough room on the cards to float, it's not your money you are spending.

Corporate formalities are taken care of and minimal as a single member LLC.

let’s start with the premise that a successful brrrr has minimal costs and an ideal brrrr has no cost (all investment extracted via the refinance).  

They seem very similar in that they handle emergency and non-emergency maintenance calls and, critically, even dispatch contractors/service-people with minimal intervention from me.