He does this in extremely busy cities where flights get delayed and people suddenly need a place to stay, and often check Facebook for recommendations. 

Go to local Real Estate meetups and learn from people there

In contrast, if you buy a rental-ready property with a 30% down payment, you miss the opportunity to create equity.

I believe it's due to my limited connections, and the people around me are also new here.

Am I willing to lose these people as my friends if/when a deal goes south? 

Its not fun for anyone but these appraisers are really hit or miss. 

The problem is taking them collectively results in new problems for our lot...the three solutions work when you look at just one of our shared lines, but when you look at all three the math falls apart...my surveyor will have to take their collective work, his new field investigation and then apply his own good theories, and hopefully our property is the missing piece in the puzzle for how to resolve this.I share that because those three surveyors are all names I or my boss know, and do good work.

They believe putting it on the MLS will make the most sense to them.Like everyone else, we are always willing to partner with people that want to learn through experience and find more propductive ways to find deals.There is money to be made in real estate in this current economy, if you find deals that have not yet hit the MLS.

Blows my mind how many people over the past few years would laugh at 8% and be like "well I can get 18% from XYZ".

I'd rather get a HELOC or refinance... unless I'm missing something.