The relationships will give you a tremendous advantage of a possible off market deal as well as other benefits you might not be able to see now.    

The biggest benefits I could see was the automatic 1.65% financing and the property database service  (title, liens, crime, tax...).We didn't join and didn't provide any info at the event.

Over the last few months we have listened to/read countless podcasts and articles to gain a better understanding of real estate investing as a whole.  

Rather I'd prefer to hold property and gain from it on a monthly basis.I know it's more complicated from that, which is why I want to learn.So basically, I'd like to know if you have any specific material for off-country investment, vacation property that may only work half the year (In Crete, I understand the island is not active during the winter), management, and biographies/success stories/mistake stories of such cases.I type as I think, so I might be all over the place, apologies for that.Thank you very much!

It is surprising what you can gain by watching people.

Most benefit from not needing an HOA fee.

@Hiren Patani  I don't see any benefit in this offer from your  bank unless you don't have any option. 

While the property may not still return 20% cash on cash, it would not be losing money on a monthly cash flow basis (hopefully..)But I think that is lazy and irresponsible, especially if you own anything more than a property or two.So I generally try to run what if scenarios on each property and then subsequently run what ifs on my larger portfolio to make sure that the portfolio can weather any economic storm that may come through.I have only been in RE for a few years and didn't gain the experience from 2008 so my question to the group is what scenarios do you test or have you encountered? 

. - For reference, you can get a great turnkey at 8-11% cap rates right now, with appreciation potential, and with tax benefits.

If you have used any, can you describe the benefits and downfalls of using them?