I'm completely lost at why people would spend money on class and workshop, when they can actually use that money and go find deals a bit outside of the expensive city we're in. $8,000 could got you started on a deal, or do a mailing list of some kind.

Stop hanging out with your deadbeat buddies who spend all day drinking, talking sports, and otherwise wasting away.

Yes I spend time in Florida on a regular basis. 

I'm not opposed to spending the money and have a demo scheduled with them this week, but was curious if anybody else has other data providers that they like better for more niche areas of distress such as bankruptcy, probate, divorce, code violations etc. that I can stack with my current data.I have submitted right-to-know requests with the local counties but only certain information is available and can be cumbersome.

But it just depends on your risk threshold and how much you're looking to spend.  

Also, the idea separating them is so you don't accidentally spend them and then no way to pay it back when the time comes.Some states if you don't refund the security deposit within X amount of days, the penality is that you will have to pay back the security deposit x2. 

Stop hanging out with your deadbeat buddies who spend all day drinking, talking sports, and otherwise wasting away.

As a MF agent who spends a large amount of time calling apartment owners (or rather, numbers purporting to be apartment owners), please believe me that reaching out to random run down buildings owners is unlikely to get you any deals.

They're not bad people, and they do want to spend their time with loyal clients. 

MOST people regardless if they are renters or home owners spend over 30% of their income on housing and utilities.