We are experienced and have never involved anyone in our projects and have never used a loan outside of a conventional mortgage.

At minimum, I am looking for the name of the deceased, a name of the personal rep/heir, and a name/contact for the attorney involved. 

If a trainer won't do that, and if a guaranteed property isn't involved, it goes nowhere. 

Whether you're interested in residential properties, commercial spaces, or real estate investment trusts (REITs), there are various strategies and approaches to consider.Real estate investing also involves understanding market trends, economic indicators, and demographic shifts.

Now, if they don't want to do that for whatever reason and don't have anybody to work with who would do that for you, I'd have to agree with you that they'd better invest at home rather than getting involved in something they don't understand.

In this era of increased rates, obtaining properties that will produce a good return are harder to find and often involve quite a bit of work.  

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

As far as the sale of a property with a mortgage on it, that all gets sorted out at close. ie, you bring your money, the bank gets what they have coming, the realtor gets what they have coming (if there's one involved) and the seller gets the rest.

Per this NY Times article, the average American knows around 600 people.https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/science/the-average-american-knows-how-many-people.html#:~:text=The%20average%20American%20knows%20about,do%20you%20know%20named%20Kevin%3FPer the US Census Bureau, the average American moves 11.7 time in their life, which based upon an approximate lifespan of 84 years, works out to be about every 7 years.https://www.census.gov/topics/population/migration/guidance/calculating-migration-expectancy.html#:~:text=Using%202007%20ACS%20data%2C%20it,one%20move%20per%20single%20yearSo, if the average American knows 600 people and they each move about every 7 years, that means that the average American knows around 85 people that move in any given year.How many of those moves do you want to be involved in?

Add in community involvement any way you can.