The truly tragic natural disasters in California, North Carolina, Florida and others of the past six months are evidence that no location is truly 'climate safe,' however there are geographical areas that can expect less weather extremes and lower costs of living, developing, insuring and seemingly...surviving. 

Most likely raising funds from passive investors would utilize a Reg D 506 b or c safe harbor exemption from registration.  

It seems to me that they all whether paid of free, will all have the same exact amount of houses because all the transactions are all public and so they seem to compete with each other based on the quality of the data of the houses, how up to date it is, and the user experience in configuring the how the layout is.

I do not recommend paying any upfront fees, unless it's with a large bank that typically requires a good faith deposit on larger transactions.

Quote from @Adam Macias: Wholesaling as it is today will be a thing of the past.It’ll truly be strange to even hear people and gurus trying to make big money off it.The more people try wholesaling but then end up not having an end buyer or cancelling contracts or trying weird things like novations, the more all of real estate will be regulated and cause requirements like licensing to be able to transact more than just your personal resident purchase.Which I don't know why hasn't happened sooner.Here's all the states (in red or yellow) requiring a license to wholesale or at least have started the process:Credit: REITipsterI think licensing and regulation is a beautiful thing that should happen if you plan to be an wholesaler and do more than one deal... which is going to be the case for anyone taking this business seriously.Or even it being regulated to need a real estate agent to do more than one deal outside of buying a personal residence.I've had plenty of failed attempts with agents in pursuit of wholesale deals and I know exactly why, it's not because the agent couldn't find me deals, it's just not practical to think there's opportunity for the numbers a wholesaler needs to make a profit on top of everyone else needing to these days.Because the only sellers who truly can sell at a deep enough discount are usually those who ran out of time and just didn't do something sooner with their situation.I know many coaches and gurus will disagree with me but there’s no regulations on youtube gurus and what they teach either.If we look at the current state of the market in hot cities, the availability of online resources to the average homeowner, how many deals can you possibly believe are available at 70% of ARV?

. $275K acquisition  and you believe a 40 year amortized loan is necessary to make the numbers work, this transaction may have bigger problems.  

When I was in your exact situation looking for help, they were the only ones that provided solid answers and walked my wife and I through the full transaction.

Doing a 100+ unit deal is totally doable as your first transaction.  

Real estate transactions with non-profit organizations like nursing homes or religious entities can indeed be unique, but they’re often manageable with the right approach.

Focus on learning how they generate leads, negotiate deals, and close transactions.