Once you find a pitbull friendly policy you will find it excludes animal liability, thereby defeating the purpose of pitbull friendly insurance.

At that time, my friend encouraged me to get into real estate with the idea of creating passive income and wealth in future (via appreciation).

You would have to go after the one individual for non-payment and you could only remove the other three by going through the legal process like you would for someone on a verbal agreement, which puts you in a he-said, she-said situation. 

He seemed legitimate at first, and I even had a few friends look over the materials he provided.

Buying a property under general partnership with 2 other friends.

Lastly, the barrier to being a successful landlord is getting slightly more difficult (still not wildly difficult) year over year due to tenant friendly legislation being passed.

Legal RequirementsIndiana landlord-tenant laws are generally landlord-friendly but require you to be diligent.

A lifelong friend and I are motivated to (virtually) meet and connect with those in REI working in the Pittsburgh area.I'm active duty military and living in California with two rental properties (one in Virginia Beach & one in Pittsburgh) and my close friend owns a single family in Baltimore.  

I think that gets lost VERY quickly with certain individuals.

I do not sell my model but I have a friend in the business who offers a much better model than Michael Blanks in my opinion.