As far as I'm concerned, positive cashflow is the price of admission for a long-term buy & hold and appreciation is a bonus.

I don't want to parrot all the benefits that we can all see on the membership page, but suffice to say, the private messaging, downloads, ads, advanced member search, et al, is 100 fold worth the price of admission.  

I would say that is free but my cost of admission was my investment which I made from my 401k.

Learn conventional real estate, from the beginning, most in public forms or at investor meeting can't give you a 25 word essay on why real estate is valuable and mention the basics. 

By his own admission, he didn't have any formal training in finance other than that required for a loan originator.A RMLO (mortgage originator) is required to take a 20 hour class and a 100 question exam, about as in depth as a real estate agents license as to laws pertaining to mortgage originations.

I was over in the blogs this morning reading Brandon Turner's latest essay, "The Definitive Guide to Using Seller Financing to Buy Real Estate" and, in the comments following the article there are two references to seller carried notes at 0% interest - one including an inflated sale price as an offset for no interest.

Customer service reps, school admissions people, the county/city zoning and planning office....and 'experts' that aren't as expert as they think.No is an easy way out and has a 'barney fife' appeal to some. 

Maybe others here actually get admissions from people when they ask about that.

To answer all of your points would require an essay.  

You are, by your own admission, basing your opinion without any first hand experience.