There are other ways to be part of the real estate industry besides being an investor and those may be more financially advantageous for you. 

I realize you may be meeting as a group yourselves, but there may be an advantage to join forces. 

Investing in a short-term rental property as non-local owners can certainly bring tax advantages, but achieving material participation requires careful planning and documentation.

., and based on previous life experience, I am confident somehow, somewhere, someday, I'll be able to use this information to my advantage.

Finder's fee if you take advantage of it lolhttp://money.cnn.com/2017/09/06/technology/dubai-bitcoin-apartments/index.html

I'm sure they are taking advantage of people.

If you want to take advantage of selling it and take advantage of a great interest rate you can do both.   

This is a great place to learn and to connect with people so take advantage of all the great resources.

The major advantage DSTs have over many other types of passive real estate investments is that they qualify as replacement property in a 1031 exchange.

My thought is that the people that ARE using it for lead gen/outreach, automation etc. will keep the methods to themselves until the advantage of early adoption is done and that business segment is saturated, then they will sell courses to everybody else..