The books that have helped me the most so far are the Rich Dad Poor Dad books, and playing the free version of his game CashFlow online.

I played for the New England Patriots and now I own my own Insurance Agency.

If you are offering nothing to yourself as the sponsor then less motivation to find great deals.Essentially you would be playing with people's hard earned money to try and gain some experience which would likely be bad.Why not intern while in school at a commercial firm that has a fund or is syndicating with a focus on their capital raise department?

So when you do see something and try to make a play you are being realistic.Good Luck!

It was as if my friends were all trying to play a game of one upmanship with each others' homes.

I have played around with the idea I am just clueless on how to structure it. lol

There is a lot of big money builders at play so it’s hard to address that topic briefly. 

Is this accurate or a play on reality?

You can do the research, join a local apartment association or hire a PM.If that sounds doable to you, you can certainly search online for a property, but if you find a good agent, they should be able to steer you to a property that will serve you well as well as point you in the right direction for any management advice you might need.Best of luck!

No way around good planning and doing your homework.Exactly, I've never done it that way, I'd only use that as an estimate if you were looking at a house online or something.