It gets easier with experience.

As far as my experience goes, anyone can manage their own property without any GC or Property Manager's license. 

My experience is that is a kind way of saying "We will add 200 basis points to our quote because your deal isn't normal for us."  

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

I figured I would invest in real world experience instead of paying a guru $20,000 to teach me what I could learn online.

You don't need to know everything to get started; you need a foundation to build on and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months.

Does anyone have experience in this area? 

Once he has some experience, your friend could start a fund and take on investors.

I live in San Diego and Im also looking to start investing out of state with little to no experience.

If so what’s been your experience so far?