Know your exit strategy going into the deal and best to give yourself a few alternatives.

That's probably the best drywaller in the area and everyone blows him off because of how he brings his materials but some savvy investor has this guy in his pocket and is getting tons of value on his job!  

You are lucky you live in Hong Kong.....go to ETrade, Schwab, Citibank, HSBC or one of the American banks there and open account...then they should be able to USD account either there or in US branch.An alternative is someone like Cathay Bank in USA. 

Locating/hiring contractors, swinging a hammer, purchasing materials, it takes time and you deserve to be paid for it. 

Just started using it a couple months ago and they have hundreds of templates you can use to help you build marketing materials.

Or anyone have suggestions of alternative routes to the normal path most new brokers take to find a mentor? 

I think this is a very creative alternative because most people will wait until the last day."

After about 3 emails where I asked him basic questions about what I can expect from his material, he will respond back with his audio message, where you can barely hear what he has to say because he mumbles, that you'll  have to upgrade to the mentor program (10k) before he'll continue communicating with you.

So I don't have anyone I need to offer alternative housing to. 

You may be able to walk away calling it a material issue, but it's a pretty thin one to most people in the industry.