I love the concept. 

David Edwards definitely would like to connect!

I don't think its that great of an investment, but I like the concept and the ability to diversify into notes.almost  all syndication investment is actually structured like that ?

Hmm, I really love this question & whole concept. 

New concept to me--What does the timeline look like on a reverse 1031 exchange?

As we work in Chicago, we structure our agreement around these concepts.

All of these are legitimate tax concepts.

If you are limited to those areas for residency, and you choose to keep that job, you are going to have to either a) wait for a couple years and save up a heftier down-payment, b) change your strategy like you said and go for houses further away (do flips, STR or BRRR).Or, if you are sold on the house-hack concept, at some point you might have to look at a different job that allows you to move where house-hacking will work....

I didn't think it is necessarily a bad thing, just is more of a sales strategy than anything else.why do you think that the concept of investing in real estate with 0 money is an "idea" instead of a real thing. 

Another important thing that’s not talked about nearly enough is these markets and the concept of economy of scale.