My instructor was a extremely knowledgeable commercial broker with quite a portfolio of real estate himself.

Your example as-is creates negative cash flow.For beginning investors, it's extremely important to look for positive net cash flow.

It is also  extremely important that you are workng with a Realtor that knows how to deal with HUD.  

I am unaware of the condo fee’s but barring they are extremely high it seems these very well could be good cash flow properties if bought at the right price.

This is extremely important.

I know lease options are a "touchy" subject but I am very determined to investigate this technique in that this is of extreme importance to me and my brother's financial survival.

I am finding my way down the bird dogging path to start, and I was wondering: Aside from all of the useful content that BP provides to us, are there any books that you guys found extremely helpful in your learning of the real estate business?

Great coverage of pros and cons here, one strategy I have seen work extremely well in regard to minimizing turnover is marketing to student athletes.

So for the $300 bucks I paid for the course, the learning I have recieved from the class would be extremely beneficial even if I never pursued being an agent.

I realize that is not particularly important to the topic at hand, but just wanted to make it known that I have a propensity for being very analytical.The market I live in as well as want to invest in is extremely depressed.