I find courses like his to be extremely valuable.Even fake gurus can create a decent course because they're ultimately just stealing from someone legit so the info is fine.The real problem is the seminars.

Obviously you need to have some contact with them, especially in the beginning while they are still gaining your trust, but ultimately, the answer is, "as much contact as you want." 

It was fun and ultimately profitable but I needed a lot of cash upfront. 50k to buy the house (3/2) then all the cash to refurbish (30k).

The fact that "the resident would like to ultimately purchase the home" DOES change the logistics somewhat, in my opinion.

My wife wanted to go somewhere else, but ultimately the bank had the best deal.

Time to build the foundation below.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

Fill in the foundation below.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

I enjoy the discussion because it's a very basic philosophical question that needs to be answered to chart your long-term investment strategy and ultimately define your success.  

The same could be said about storage of ammo, ect.And should there be an ultimate total collapse of the government you will need to be able to get to those things as well, or they will do you no good.

I looked at flips but ultimately decided not to do them on houses.The red tape and amount of time needed was too much taken away from doing my commercial listings.Average commission check for my commercial deals is as high or higher than doing flips and I can manage many more listings and close them than I could flipping houses.Once I studied flipping houses there is a lot more into it than I thought.I think you can make it work if you do that segment full time.