I plan on starting out next year with a small plug and play solution to have minimum risk.

From there you can start to identify what you are looking for.Where do you land on the follow spectrums:Cash flow and AppreciationLong term or Short term needs (waiting for growth vs get out of my W2 now)Long term rentals, Mid term rentals, Short term rentalsBuying close to home or coast to coastSelf manage or hire a PMIf you can narrow in on those, you essentially have your buy box. 

Breaking it down by room can make the process a lot easier.There are also some great pre-made checklists in Airbnb host groups and forums if you need a starting point.

House hacking is the BEST way to get into real estate investing and that's how I personally got started as well too.

I'd be happy to give you some insight on the market here and get you some good contacts out here to start building a team.

Lenders or investors who have short lock up periods but have years of experience feeding their business with new capital would give me more comfort but anyone who is just starting and is promising a rate of return or return of capital in a set period of time would be alarming because they very well could be reliant on fresh capital to make good on that promise and that usually ends poorly.

I'd start by giving all residents the required notice (usually 24 hours) and go inspect the units as quickly as you can. 

I think you should start by understanding what it is your investors want out of the deal, analyze how the returns compare to traditional investments, and then see where you fit into this deal. 

It's time to start the process as everyone else mentioned above.

Thanks for this perspective too @Aaron Zimmerman Based on this info above, I am starting to lean toward the $400k in cash versus the cash flow.