I am looking for a builder to partner with who will finance building costs (and get reasonable GC fees above cost for their efforts as well).

It would take a lot of time and effort to get someone up to speed that had never done this before.

I have a basement that I'd like to get done by a certain timeline, so that rules out my solo DIY efforts. :)

Is it worth the effort? 

It may be uncomfortable, but I usually find its worth my effort.

After that I made a conscious effort to and connect and meet with as many people in the RE business as I possible and I still find myself in new challenging situations as LTR landlord.

Market is always moving, they can't sell you something that isn't available. 2018 Pricing won't touch 2013 pricing anywhere.Hi James,It's a bit weird here in Toledo as everyone is touting that "the market has never been better".We don't see it tho and are still picking up some great deals for great prices.Granted, we are super active will all of our acquisition efforts and I've said it before so I'll say it again.We feel like kids in a candy store lolThanks mateps.

It must make money to justify the effort.  

But if the newbie won’t put the effort in to learn (1) the principles of real estate (2) real estate law and basic real estate finance I won’t make the effort to share the benefit of my knowledge and experience. 

There are a lot of interesting opportunities and you can invest without putting too much effort.