From there you can query homes with other information at your finger tips, such as show homes that are within half a mile of bus stops on bus route 12, or show homes near by dog parks, or not further than biking distance from the beach, or homes with great cell receptions for Sprint...and Google Map would pop up properties available for sale, for rent and you go can go for a virtual tour.

I can see how inexperienced first time investors got sucked into someone like this with all his one line presense and credibility.. its the same way TV flip guru's become faces for HOW to seminars.. that people pay 40k to go to.Just tell the BP crew  you spent 40k on a bus tour and see how many say that is crazy.. this is just another version of guru taken advantage of those that are just starting out. at least that's my read on it and opinion.

With my laptop in the passenger seat I started looking up the addresses of properties I was interested in and touring the neighborhoods.  

YES... but we choose not to because we don't want to be the company that makes people take out a student loan to pay for their $40,000.00 bus tour... so are there a lot of businesses out there scamming people?...

Also if it's a sheriff sale I'm not sure how you toured the property as they are always locked up 

I got 3 days of very good information fire-hosed for about 10 hours per day, a whirlwind bus tour and an offer to be personally mentored.

And honestly, if you ever want a tour of the area, i'd be more than happy to show you the good/bad/ugly of Aberdeen.

For example, I acquired a property in Phoenix to fund my purchase of a vacation home up north to escape the heat.I'll buy another property to afford my tricked-out WRX STI in the future, and a third one so I can take a European vacation every year with my family.I agree with your decision, but consider rewarding yourself again once you have more comfortable cash flow and there are more predictable signs of the direction of the economy and REI legeslature. 

I must say that I am a property investor that invests in European real estate market.

.#3 Explore Lowes and Home Depot to Learn About Material PricingTake a tour through Lowes and Home Depot (or their websites) and look at finishes materials and fixtures that you will consider using in your rehab projects.