Thus 9 out of every 10 agents who are showing random rentals will fail. 

I told him I would call him back, but even if the 3 people that he wants to stay there go through the application process and qualify, I'm concerned that random people will be in and out of there all the time, because who's to say that the 3 people stay for the entire year? 

I know a random deal is bought here in California - an extremely competitive market.

I don't know this guru, I have no idea what he has, but beware of random short posts to RE sites that promote gurus as sometimes there could be another agenda.

Con's: She didn't focus on principles or fundamentals, and instead listed off a bunch of random "insider secrets" that a newbie like me shouldn't even worry about.

Just because you have a degree in finance and you worked at some random entry level job for a corporate financial firm like Fidelity or something doesn't really give you any qualifications as a real estate investor.

I thought the business tightened up and appraisers were selected at random now.

Sounds very similar to what I was thinking, just replacing a random person with family. 

Just for curiosity, I picked 3 of them in miami dade at random and crossed referenced them on the clerk of courts site. 1 was still in the owners name, so it might of just transferred, 1 had foreclosed Jan 2011 and no writ of possession was ever filed. 1 was foreclosed 8/2011 and had a writ that had been issued and rejected with the comment "3rd party entitled to stay".

I'd prefer to take upwards of 30% of it and invest in 1 or 2 rental properties.Should I just randomly call a realtor and provide them this info and get to work?