I have some friends who have and have not looked back.

Once you start to get people in there to look at project to project, that will give you a baseline then you'll start to gain more knowledge on where you need to be on the pricing/estimates etc.

Who is saying that?

I would invite you to come out to one of the meetings, reach out if I can be of any help. 

Give them the projected return, but also be honest about possible downsides.2.

Does anyone have recommendations for terrific lawyers that they have used who are great with working with small real estate investors? 

As we evaluate deals, we're wondering if we're being too conservative with our estimates.

Buy something in a place where you will like to vacation in and hire out the management.

Can it be profitable?

If you ever leave them it will be deleted, so be sure you are backing it up!