Forget the course and put that money on a quality vacation short-term rental.  

I'm exploring creative financing methods for my down payment.

Unfortunately, we don't work in CT, so someone else on here might have a better method, but at least that is a start for you.

Quantity is useless unless they have quality.

Good returns are still out there for quality.  

So, they won’t work with us.We’ve also learned that contractors usually fall into one of the following categories:Type 1 (High Quality, High Price)They can do new construction, additions, full remodeling, but maintenance work is too small for them.Typically pay for advertising, have sales staff, separate bid preparers, inhouse designers, full office support.Equates to a lot of overhead, leading to markups of 50%+.Bids: Usually have a dedicated salesman that does their bids, so able to supply quality bids.Comment: Usually have the highest prices & quality, and so these are the contractors you’d hire to work on your own home.

If a tenant is abusive then that’s a different story, but you can’t control that.I do a lot of BRRRR projects and always use a better high quality product.

@Sara Joe  I use over 20 different acquisition methods including foreclosures, off market, probate, tax sales, and other problem properties like title issues or physical issues like fire, smoke, ice, and water damaged. 

For me, hands on learning with someone by my side showing me step by step how to do someyhing is my preferred method. 

For a small to mid size investor it’s difficult if not impossible to find quality management for SFR or small apts; once you scale to a certain size you can find quality managers.