Before joining, I spent about 18 months listening to podcasts, reading posts and books, etc. trying to teach myself. 

We spent weekend in Southern Oregon looking at properties.

@Kade Robertson I do but I spent 4 years putting it together and it's how I grow my business so will give info but I hold my maps dear, hope you understand.  

And the cycle continues until you have spent thousands of dollars for information that you could get from the local library or Biggerpockets for free.

PS - I've never spent more than $5000 per month on direct response marketing, and I've never launched a campaign without generating countless vendor leads.

This way when you run reports you can have them separated out and see what was spent by the PM and what was spent on the Operating side.Self-Managed - Location is "Self-Managed", the classes will be all the units.

If your potential numbers already look good, you most certainly won't regret the money spent on a designer!

Even the few no money down deals I have done wasn’t really no money down deals, because I spent thousands upon thousands of dollars in marketing  and typically I had to do some sort of rehab to the property once I got it.The last Sub2 deal idea I had to give the seller $17,000, pay all the closing cost, repaint the whole house, and make payments on the thing three months while I was getting it ready.The one before that the guy was behind almost $7000, I had to change the carpet, I painted the whole house, I made a number of payments while I was getting it ready, and I paid the closing cost, and I probably spent close to $7000 on a marketing campaign . 

You would not be able to be classified as "materially participating" under what you propose, you must meet a couple of criteria to be considered including 100hrs+ spent on the business and more time than anyone else.

I bought my first duplex in unlivable condition for $45K cash on the barrelhead, spent three years of my spare time making the upstairs a nice apartment and the downstairs liveable on a shoestring budget.