Money well spent is all I have heard.Your caution with paying for these types of courses is warranted though.

Go to your sheriffs dept, file for an arrest warrant & either get him to pay you back every single cent or have him go to jail.

Note that he would have been paid for setting up an entity and turned that away.Loans for these privately held properties are based on W-2 income and debt-to-income ratios.Again, your situation is probably different and may warrant a different solution - which is why my first comment mentioned "it depends".  

I have only had to use a quiet title action in a couple of adverse possession cases where it was truly warranted.

Otherwise, if you can find employment that's backed by a college degree, then W2 income is basically a requirement for loans, so go for that and invest on the side until you have enough income from rentals and a track record that warrants going full time.What discipline you pursue in RE will depend on what your interests are -- flipping, buy and hold, development, etc -- so take this time starting out to learn as much as you can about all the ways to make a living in RE from someone who's doing that strategy in your market.

I've done a couple portfolio loans on non-warrantable condos with First Bank.

Condos - anything non warrantable are going to be 20% down.

They need to increase a rental appeal of the property and its income potential, and such increase should be proportional to the expense.For example, if you spend $25k to rebuild a bathroom, and it warrants a $100 rent increase, it would take 20 years or more to just recoup the cost.

I am a BP Featured Agent and I'd be glad to hop on a call to touch on our local market, what your goals are, need-to-know lending criteria's, i.e. warrantable vs. non-warrantable condos, STR friendly COA's, etc.

Obviously this is a key research item that would warrant deep investigation in an offer type situation.