The meet up I went to a number of times in San Antonio was more for the benefit of the owner of the meet up.

A couple thoughts on your question:I tell our STR investors in Colorado that their main goal should be to set up the right way right out of the gate.

The last two provide the added benefit of providing you access to liquid cash. 

Keep in mind the 3 main ways you make money (cash-flow, mortgage pay-down, and market appreciation). 4.

They are usurping your property for the benefit of the public.

They removed all Ugro projects from main website.

It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits.

On buy-and holds we usually replace all the plumbing with pex, no matter what, because galvanized has a life expectation of about 60 years, so I usually take the sooner than later approach.Stick with hard money, like Mach1 or or MKE hard money (Scott Lurie) as they will not leand on a deal that does not pencil out, so you have the added benefit of someone experienced looking over your numbers.

I think the main thing I am learning here is to adjust the profit share between myself and my private money partners.

I really wanted to pursue this not so much for the financial benefit but for the learning experience.