That roommate subsequently shot somebody at the house (non fatal). 

you may want to talk to some of the crowdfunding sites.. your experience and financial position will be important .In my mind if your doing your first deals you need to give the money much more return than what you want to subsequently end up with.. why because you need experience and you need deals to show others that you have done deals.remember 8% pre with a waterfall there are literally 100's of very established syndicators that will do this .you offer substantially more and the investors many times will take the risk adjusted return and go with you as you start out.

We've subsequently closed portfolio loans with B2R, Firstkey, and Colony(6-7%,1pt).So far, its been a pretty good experience, but our velocity of capital is not living up to our ambitions.

I'm looking for help with financing questions mostly: There's a large building available in a developing area and I want to know how to finance the purchase and subsequent renovations. 

Asking for money in subsequent phases increases IRR since again its time sensitive (but you know the capital call is coming so you as an investor have to earmark that cash on the sidelines for when its called).

That eventually led me to download and listen to "Rich Dad Poor Dad", which subsequently led me to download and listen to "Rich Dad Advisors: ABCs of Real Estate Investing" by Ken McElroy.

The value dynamic that occurs is called diminishing returns, where the first unit of feature is worth one amount and subsequent units of the same feature are worth less.

Unless you don't want to be a landlord for that building, which it sounds like you do, then the chances of this offer or subsequent offers being in your best interest are very small.

Once I buy an investment property (and check title & get owner's title insurance at the time of the purchase), what can I do to prevent a scammer from subsequently recording a forged deed, including forging my signature (etc.), that tries to transfer away ownership of my property?

Any statements with respect to problems or with respect to the availability or existence of any of these items which were made by the REALTOR and his/her associates were made based on information given to the REALTOR by the Seller/Owner and/or government agencies, and/or others, and there is no intention that the Buyer rely on the statements of the REALTOR and his/her associates, and the Buyer is urged to confirm any such statements on his/her own.Having read the foregoing disclaimer, I/we, the prospective Buyer(s), by my/our signature(s) below, state that I/we have not relied upon any statement given to me/us by the REALTOR and/or his/her associates with regard to the property, and my/our decision to make an offer on the property and to subsequently purchase the property is based on my/our independent decision with or without legal counsel.