This costs something in the form of instruction—assuming they’re learning from a professional and not their boastful buddy.

Union City makes real estate investments almost totally unviable due to ultra strict rent control.

Hello! I joined BiggerPockets today and look forward to networking and finding my way to time, location and financial freedom! I HAVE NEVER OWNED A HOME. Primary or rental.
Here is my current situation:
I'm 27 years...

At that point they can invest in ultra safe investments that give total IRR of 10% a year and outpace inflation by about 3 times. 

That is just an added expense and those savings could be used to pay down the new mortgage faster if you want to be ultra conservative.

Here in the US we have FHA loans if you're going to live in the property which boast only a 3.5% down payment.

Economists credit a mix of factors including ultra-low mortgage rates, increasing demand for space, and an emerging home-buying demographic: millennials.

They're typically priced in the 4-7% ranges so they're not going to give you that ultra low 3's rates that a conventional lender might.It would be best to figure out what your scenario is currently and see which route would be best for you going forward. 

I didn't specify that I'd only be going to close friends and family; it definitely sounded as if I was going to just ultra-experienced investors immediately.

Prices in San Francisco are already ultra high - almost 10x of my home town Milwaukee - and they are still going up.Now of course Milwaukee does not have a silicone valley (even though a very robust economy) so real estate will probably never be anywhere close to those levels.