I've been investing in real estate for 30 years. 

There are two requirements to claim REP status1) 750 Hours2) You spend more time on real estate than other activities such as your W-2 Job or BusinessYou want to work with a tax professional who will be able to advise you on what hours count and what hours do not count.Furthermore, the CPA may have a nice worksheet that you can use to help you document your hours.Best of luck!

House hacking is often promoted as the easiest way to get into real estate—buy a property, rent out part of it, and let tenants cover your mortgage.

When I did my research for buying my properties in Costa Rica, I had one of the big STR management companies like Evolve analyze my potential profits and I used that info to raise money through bringing on partners to buy the properties. 

When my business partner and I were still flipping we bought a couple through Auction.com and we always used a private money lender to fund those and our other flips. 

Dennis' dad and I actually tripped over something similar back in Chandler.. we learned to tap into city planning websites and even call the permit offices directly to get a real sense of their backlogs.

Conventional, after two hard money people fell through How did you add value to the deal?

The real estate agents recommended I look into Nomad (real estate tech) company for property management and finding tenants for the property.   

The only way I can access is money is through my primary residence and doing a HELOC.

With your real estate background, you’re already off to a great start.