I have not owned a venue before but have extensive event planning experience. 

In my experience, if you don't have that edge, you will likely struggle at active investing and you are better off in syndications.

The visualization of the BP forum is always like this :Newbie investor almost has no clue about what they are asking.

If so, can you share your experience?

It was a very bad experience for me that could have been easily avoided if they had any professionalism and commitment to doing what they advertise they do.

Here's my experience and understanding of the law about security deposits.You cannot hold back money for anything that is normal wear and tear.  

Couple grand maybe, unless there was some huge unknown problem that couldn't have visually been identified walking through the property.

You may get some people off the bat who won't want to take on the project.I'd also recommend having a timeline in mind for how quickly you want to get the project done and asking each contractor if they have other trades they have experience working with and like working with. 

Any experience investing and renting out in Indiana, PA

In my experience, you can build capital much quicker in the wholesaling world than with rentals or other strategies in real estate, BUT, if you are starting your business it takes a lot of work to get going.