Often what they get is enough rope to hang themselves with after paying so coach, instructor, mentor or guru. 

Hi Brian,Welcome to BP, this is a great website and resource for all types of real estate investing.I always recommend these 3 things to people beginning in Real Estate Investing:1) Do a lot of research here2) Do not spend a lot of money with coaches, it would be much better to put that money to work and learn from experience, I'm not against coaches or education, but you need to be careful as there are some that are really bad3) There are many real estate clubs out there, visit them, select your favorites and meet other investors working your area.

Someone called wanting to sell me a $3,500 coaching program from Carleton Sheets.

If you do plan to syndicate I highly recommend paying for some quality education... this runs the gamut from spending $1,000 with Michael Blank (gets you his video course and a solid underwriting tool) to spending $20,000 for some of the coaching. 

Ask your mentor or coach about the matter.

I recently hired a coach to help me automate my business. 

Those of you out there with your webinars for sale, coaching, products, paper work etc. how did you get started with the web design?

"The property is in a not so good area of town" This is a red flag for me as everyone that has coached me to buy properties said "there is no such thing as overpaying for an investment property in a prime location, but there is in a not so good location."

I've seen some people volunteer at local shelters/crisis centers and offer this type of thing... one that stood out to me was a person that helped create resumes and helped coach through interviews, he gave each person their own flash drive with a copy of the resume so they could (at some point) start updating it themselves.

One piece of advice I’d provide is to find a mentor who will spend time coaching you and helping you grow as an LO.