I published a listing on zillow rental manager and I got a text inquiry within a minute which seemed odd to me.

Hard Money Lenders don't publish all of their requirements upfront. 

Taking on deals like this that decrease wealth, such as low return high upfront cost whole life insurance, paying 19% interest on credit card debt, paying 2% annually to have a “wealth advisor” place your money in Vanguard Index Funds, paying for a high cost mortgage because you’re credit is bad, and “debt consolidation” programs are all reasons adding up to why many people can’t achieve financial independence and remain dependent on working every day to live paycheck to paycheck.There is a chance that in a particular circumstance any of these, including the program offer you describe, can be beneficial in certain specific cases.  

There's a great book called Every Landlord's Legal Guide published by NOLO that will give you some great basic advice on how the process works, you may want to buy that.

Looking forward to a true real estate journey toward financial independence.

If you want cash flow consider Raytown Independence, Lees Summit, Blue Springs, and KCK.

Good ones are still out there (I published an ebook on how to evaluate them if anyone is interested).As far as DSTs, I have yet to talk to a single investor who found a DST that was attractive.

>How do I convince my parent's I'm not gambling my savingsAre you financially independent of your parents?  

Published a couple of articles on this exact question here on BP last year - these should be a helpful referenceDSCR Loans: What Are They And How To Get The Best Termshttps://www.biggerpockets.com/...DSCR Loans: How To Use Pro Strategies To Save More And Make Morehttps://www.biggerpockets.com/...

There is published guidance on this which I have previously posted to BP.