The SEC was to have the new rules out by now but I believe they have been dragging their feet while waiting for comment.Under the new rules the big thing to watch out for is that the SEC has proposed putting the burden of determining the "accredited investor" status on the entity.

I am trying to figure out a method to identify the best place (Metropolitan Area) in the US to find a "buy and hold" property.A common method is to identify several parameters, score each of them.I identified the following parameters:Unemployment in August 2012 (from city-data.com)Unemployment trend (from city-data.com)Zillow Home index valueZillow Rent indexProperty managers accredited by BBBCan you recommend a different method?

But it seems like those friends and family would have to be accredited or "sophisticated" investors to not violate SEC laws.

Have you considered homeschooling?

This is all so new to me that when I'm tempted to go into perfectionist mode, or I get overwhelmed, I look at this quote over my desk: I am a wife and mother and I homeschool 3 of my daughters, ages 3, 7, and 12.

I get the whole reason for this wholesaling mania for the empty pockets crowd IE those with no real nest egg that want to go from zero to a RE investor in 3 months  :)I am thinking the real issue at hand is the non sophisticated owner of a 1 to 4.. and at some point the govmit stepping in.. just like dodd frank stepped in to dissuade bad lending in sub prime areas etc.But I see a flip side if you have sophisticated sellers IE accredited like you do for investing in PPM's and such.. then no rules are really needed as the common wisdom is they are sophisticated enough to know how to value a asset and or what a fair price and terms are..

Come to find out he is an accredited investor that used to be some programmer or software engineer for Exxon mobile and is only working so he can spend more time with his wife.

How can I accomplish this if I am not an accredited investor?

As an accredited investor with 100K or more to invest, what is this family member looking for?  

I agree with you and understand that you are not a turnkey company (though many others here are) that there are very rare cases where the $/hr don't add up ... for those rare individuals, though, they would likely qualify as accredited investors and IMO there are much more attractive investment options open to them than turnkey rentals, where their financial interests are in much better alignment with the provider.