I definitely agree with everything @Caleb Heimsoth said. 5.2% is very low as far as historical standards are concerned. 

as a newbie and who also wants to own my own properties before the end of 2018 I would like to know what your action steps/ method you used to get your feet wet in real estate and what did you learn ?

My concern here isn't time, money, or lack of deals, it's the fact my schedule isn't predictable in any form. 

I'm in a cheaper market, but I use the HELOC method. 

One of the the tips is “fall in love with the ROI and not the real estate, don’t concern yourself with crime maps and school data.”

I guess that was my main concern in this whole deal.

My main concern is when title transfers there is a chance the bank will call the old loan due.

My concern would be that the tenant initiates payment on the first then I find out 5 days later they had insufficient funds. 

Any insurance concerns?

Tough to make out exactly what he was saying.To see what he’d say, I offered to have my attorney set up an escrow account (at no cost to him) to hold the $5600 for us and to help us complete the transaction, to which he responded that would mean he would not have the funds then available to pay for the due diligence activities, and that would not be fair to him.Suffice to say, when he outright declined to do business using legitimate methods, I knew for sure this guy was a scammer.