I have seen too many people devote so much time to getting their entity set up and pay lawyer fees before they have done a deal.

You have a huge advantage - you can devote as much energy as you want to to your real estate investments.

Of course I am not expecting much from the agent aside form presenting the offers and ideally don't want to waste their time,  but inherently they will need to devote time, write the offers, present them, etc. which, of course, could otherwise be spent elsewhere. 

I could devote these next few months to networking with GPs, reviewing deals, getting experience with due diligence, etc., in the syndication world -- and then dive right into the niche that I see as the better long-term strategy.

Know your market and know what you are willing to do, how many hours per week can you devote to manage your properties in case you choose to self-manage.Once you identify a property you like, do the footwork.   

I would recommend devoting a day to just driving around the city and becoming familiar with the different areas.

The Manager shall have no authority to do any act prohibited by lawor in contravention of this Agreement, nor shall the Manager have anyauthority to do any of the following without the prior writtenconsent of the Members holding at least a majority of the Units:(a)Permit or cause theLimited Liability Company to make any loan to any Manager or any oftheir Affiliates;(b) Permit or cause thefunds of the Limited Liability Company to be commingled with thefunds of any other person;(c)Permit any creditor whomakes a no recourse loan to the Limited Liability Company to acquire,at any time as a result of making such loan, any direct or indirectinterest in the profits, capital or property of the Limited LiabilityCompany other than as a secured creditor;(d) Perform any act whichwould impair or make impossible the ordinary conduct of the LimitedLiability Company's business;(e)Sell all or substantiallyall of the assets of the Limited Liability Company other than in theordinary course of business or merge the Limited Liability Companywith any other entity.6.04- Obligationsof the Manager.The Manager shall:(a) Devote to the LimitedLiability Company and apply to the accomplishment of LimitedLiability Company purposes so much of the Manager's time andattention as they determine to be necessary or advisable to manageproperly the affairs of the Limited Liability Company.

I simply can not do it on my own anymore.Then we have 3 walktroughs scheduled.Then I am writing a blog article for my blog.Then I will devote 2 hours for R&D for my website.

Do you have the spare time to devote to school for 18 to 24 months?

I don’t know the nature and extent of your RE business or layout and set up of your home office space, but you can get plenty of details by looking at Publication 587 which is devoted to this issue, and looking at Form 8829 where the deduction is calculated.