These posts are a great start for my real estate education.

I send clients to BP all the time for education, and this literally gives them a blue print of what to do once they sign up. 

Sounds like the sellers are educated .  

I want to use my VA home loan to purchase a multifamily property next year, but before I make any moves I want to be as educated as possible.

Now jump into educating yourself on being a good landlord.

Continue your education by reading the blogs and look into some of the books that are recommended in the podcast.

hi josh. i have thought at times about doing the vacation rental house thing myself. maybe some day i will do it. first and foremost, education is a great thing, but you can spend too much time on education and never spend anytime in the real world education center. my advice???

You need to spend a little for a proper education or to jumpstart that part of your education, for sure it will be more than $1,000 if you make a mistake on your offer.

I could not find much in the way of comps, so I made an educated guess.  

I believe you are referring to Self Directed IRA's (SD IRA or SDIRA)....try to do a search on them on here or online and educate yourself on them.Other reading....http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/63454-list-of-self-directed-ira-companieshttp://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/64530-best-self-directed-ira-trust-companies-http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/58063-who-is-your-self-directed-ira-custodian-of-choice-why-http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/3258-self-directed-retirement-plans