@Christian LicataRenting property provides steady passive income, long-term wealth building, and tax advantages, but may be low initially due to mortgage payments and maintenance.

If I place complete trust in my PM's knowledge and expertise, but they take advantage of my ignorance, how far does it have to go to become fraud?

This can be advantageous if you have a solid investment plan but less-than-perfect personal credit. 

its great that you are taking the leap into Real Estate investment, and Venice Florida, its an interesting market with its mix of vacation and long-term rental opportunities.Given the current market conditions you are describing - stagnant with a surplus of inventory - there might be some advantages to exploring both vacation and long term-rentals.  

I would put her in the category of a long-term campaign.

We put them to the test with an office warehouse 3 building 40,000 sq ft syndication 2 years ago and they performed as they stated.When utilizing local lenders who keep the loan in their portfolio, you CAN negotiate on rate BUT I find it much better to pay 1/4 to 1/2 point above the absolute minimum and obtain these other advantages instead.  

Defer Taxes and Grow WealthThe primary advantage of a 1031 exchange is tax deferral.

Owner inherited the property, terrible previous property manager who was taking advantage of her, she stated she would be unable to afford the property taxes.  

I have not found any unbiased data to show that DST's are safe and more advantageous than cashing out by paying the capital gains.

This can be an advantage as smaller investors are far more nimble and get things done much faster than the big banks.There's a reason that pools nowadays are heavy with notes in slow moving states.