Check out the free content online of Bill Faeth. 

It seems you are falling for the alarmist rhetoric you’ve been reading and watching online.

I’ve got that Arizona license #AZ-21837, and I lean on a pretty wide network of top-tier realtors and boots-on-the-ground pros who can give you insights you might not find by just browsing listings online.

A tough thing we've found though (like you mentioned) is even the highly rated foundation folks in our area -- as well as a lot of the content online -- all have a strong incentive to sell big high-margin solutions.

From my experience, to succeed in multifamily investing, focus on networking through local meetups, online forums, and professional connections, leveraging your CPA skills to analyze deals and optimize deductions.

Paying for an online course before you know other investors and have gone to meetups is just paying to procrastinate.

Network (in-person events and online BP)3. 

-I'm fairly careful with communication , but again, I know doing business online is way riskier, but I want to ask: Typically, I would trust someone who seems very in-depth, informative (gives statistics and numbers), and basically would give me thorough steps (including worst-case scenarios and what would best fit my situation)^^would people who have experience say that even with the above, some agents/lenders/PMs would still be sort of out to get your money and do a lousy job?

Here, once you have an account and a bit of lending experience, you can access the online, fill-in-the-blank templates to create your own set of documents. 

But i guess in today's world where things are on line and investors are used to Internet communications this is much easier than those days.