He said that everything is virtual and i needed a program called REIwebtools. the thing is that the program cost about $1500 plus $97 each month. i was just wondering if anyone has tried it and if so is it real or a scam. im looking so desperately in my area for investors willing to pass down their knowledge to me.

@Ryland Taniguchi  then why anti skimming law..  

I've never been, but my guess is that, if you don't know much about investing, you'll likely get your money's worth for the $197 (yes, I'm very anti-guru, but it's likely a brand new investor will get at least $200 worth of info and motivation from that sort of thing)...That said, here are some caveats:1.  

Joe Kaiser was a scam artist.

These guys completely scammed me and many others.

My wife and I got started in real estate after attending one of the free "teaser's" that are put together to sell these scams.

The main points I wanted out of the question was 1) in what ways can I be scammed, 2) in what ways can I protect myself, respectively, and 3) was the deal worth it?

The above is much different than the actual "investment scams" that take advantage of homeowners offering a loan in exchange for 10% down, schemes to rehab and sell FEMA trailers, etc.  

I feel for you though, one of our tenants is anti-bra,  always a little uncomfortable!  

This is a very anti-BP sentiment but: "You've owned a property for 4 months and that's too short of a window to validate or invalidate your investing thesis".