After looking at a realtor forum though they seem to have a very negative view saying that it is basically a scam for people selling “courses”, and that it is very close to at times or is illegal.  

This was the first project were we got scammed by an online retailer.

If we scammed people, we would not be in business for very long, let alone 15 years. 

A good way to avoid scams (and bad business relationships) is to associate with people who walk the talk and actually buy and invest in what they are selling.

Just curious if it is a big scam, or something to be considered.

There are a lot of scams going on these days.

He may be making some money now, but I suspect he'll be shut down at some point and will scurry off to some other scam to try and make a quick, illegal buck.

Here is a good video which I would say highlights more the reality of creative financing:While I would not call it a scam, I think it discusses reality vs. perception of what is being sold. 

There are many lenders who will fund these types of deals.In many instances they will fund 75-90% of acquisition and 90-100% of renovation if you have a 3rd party licensed GC with a proposal.Note if you are looking for 100% financing for everything, those deals do not exist and if someone offers it or very low interest rates then they are probably trying to scam you.

I'm not sure how to check if this was a total scam from the getgo (if it was this becomes a very embarassing story for me and I very happy that I got most of the money back) or if the investor's story was legit.