The neighborhood I was in, older, smallish homes, 2/3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, would be ideal starter houses for many, especially given the proximity to the city with the bus straight down R-3.  

Here's a list I found for starters: http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/sustainability/sustainability/sustainable-living/at-home/hpwes/for-homeowners/find-a-contractor/st.

I think if you research those for starters you should be able to get a decent amount of information.Alternatively, if you don't want to comb through the forums then listen to the podcasts.

We for starters we can do much better than the hard money numbers you listed.  

I was able to get into a tiny 1943 "FHC Minimum Standard A" starter home in Albany as my primary residence and slowly remodel it from 700 square feet to the lot maximum 1500 square feet doing the majority of the work myself.  

So when selling homes in the starter or young family stage not having a pool is nbd.

For starters, generally you don't want to hold rentals in corporations.

You should attend it for sure.There are many other courses that are definitely worth the money like Clever Investor but I recommend the above two courses over anything else for a starter.

starter housing tends to have very thin margins.

For starters, check out the podcasts. :)