While you can potentially rent-by-room, this is a really tough configuration to do that with as 3 unrelated people seldom want to share a bathroom and if they do, they expect a pretty steep discount for it.When you mentioned rental arbitrage do you mean that you're open to someone renting it from you for the purpose of using it for arbitrage? 

If you ever do recognize income down the road or fail to file Form 3840, then the CFTB will come after you for the taxes that you should have paid when you sold in North Park. 

I am sure you can find some people here on BP that could help you.

Essentially, people could donate money and get tax deductions and then that money could be pooled to buy property, fix it, rent it and pay a manager.I’m assuming it would be similar to a self invested Ira.

Also depends a lot on local authorities whether people will dismiss your concerns or not.  

I'm not exactly sure which bank they use because Stessa does not name it on their website but people here on biggerpockets seem to be happy with it.

I have had so many people asking me for help re financing in Mexico that I'm studying whether there's a way I can get involved in that business to be able to help them.Finally, something to bear in mind that the best deals in Mexico can be more profitable if you pay cash than a deal with a mortgage in the US.

This seems like something useful to enough people that it would merit the TINY revision of their process that it would take. 

It's a disappointing tactic that takes advantage of people's trust and eagerness to learn.So, how can you avoid falling into the trap of paying for information that's readily available for free?

If you haven't put the best possible,  experienced people around you, I might suggest getting involved with your local real estate investment groups...many of these people will have experience and contacts that could help walk you through the steps required to make this project safe and profitable or to show you why it might be something to walk away from.