A novice tax lien investor I had advised came to me one time and mentioned he worked for one of the national tax sale trainers.

There still bonkers, even more so in some ways but clearly novices. 

This is great information, I still have some questions as a novice:1.

Gets a lot of novice investors too.

Properties, for novices, which look good on paper and have good cash flow usually come with C to D+ areas, risky tenants, and a lot of cap ex that you can't see on the internet (basements, roofs, water issues, outdated mechanicals).You are turning a terrible loss into a springboard which is great, but you are trying to move too quickly it sounds like.

Again, it does require a very high level of knowledge and experience so it is NOT for the novice at all, but far from "bad". 

@Thomas Richardson As @Mike Grudzien mentioned, reading my book doesn't exactly tell you how to "pitch" to private lenders but it does help you understand how to present deals to novice or new PMLs within your network by being able to show them how you'd protect and safeguard their capital with things like equity protection, title insurance policy, loss payee on your property insurance policy, going through a third party title and escrow or attorney to close the loan, etc.

OR they are a very small, very novice "Ma,Pa" operation aged out, dilapidated, not really much there to be honest and after years of decline now retiring out.   

The pet term you detailed I'd call novice.

STR looks like an attractive option but I am a novice in this area so looking for input on realistic income and cost estimates of a STR managed by a 3rd party property management company.