Your goal is to build a passive real estate portfolio (we can discuss what passive means to you), so while I don't condone throwing $100k into a deal without even a basic understanding, alternatively doing so will teach you far more lessons than reading a book will.  

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.The City of Detroit has 183 Neighborhoods we’ve analyzed.DM us if you’d like to discuss this logical approach in greater detail!

I've been doing some studying on short sales but still working to understand it better.

That's understandable.

My understanding is this is the correct way to do it for these reasons: Renter's insurance is for renters, landlord insurance is for landlords. 

If you are new and don't have a clue, then I would certainly recommend them or some company that can guide you through things until you have an understanding. 

Social media is a good place to meet people, but do you really understand what they do?

Give it a read, and you'll have a fair understanding of the process. 

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.Thank you @Michael Smythe this is very helpful! 

You might want to double check he understands the scale of the project you're asking him to do.