Nicholas, When vetting a syndication, every investor will do it differently because every investor has a different risk tolerance, comes from a different financial situation and has different financial goals.

Without having much info, I would need to know the financial situation of the 'close family' to determine a best approach.

Condition, pictures, any financials they can provide.  

Through your local bank that you are using, are you reapplying for each new home for a seperate construction loan or are you setup as a credit line with them and just submit a new budget for each new home I do want to also add that my banker who is the VP of lending and branch manager has been banking me for 30 years..WE have been through all he ups and downs including the GFC were I got almost totally wiped out financially..

@Dave AllenRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

It's such a broad question that it's hard to answer.My original intent was financial freedom for my family.

A tip would be knowing The number of doors you qualify for from a lender, And then looking at financial statements from places a little smaller and a little bigger.

Without knowing any of your financial position of your work or side hustles it is hard to give you exact advice because you may be able to carry these homes until they are paid off and in that case they would provide solid returns, but there are likely better real estate investments out there.  

I did purchase my lot in cash.For the financial side, there are different options, and I am far from an expert. 

I will give you the common-sense answer below, but this is California, where common sense doesn't exist.A mandatory evacuation is outside of your control, so you shouldn't suffer financially because of it.