I will ask more questions when I have formed up the plan and have a set structure for him to digest. 

One large tract is currently being developed into SF and MF housing and selling quickly. 

The moment both parties sign, you are bound to that contract, and the way the escrow payment is handled from that point on depends on what the co tract says.

@Cooper MarcusPerhaps it's more digestible to say more restricted threshold.I consider the 500 hour standard one of the highest thresholds and one of the hardest to meet of the 7 standards for material participation, thus higher threshold in my mind...

There are a several other books that you may also want to digest. 

If you're the type who designs your apartment with an eye to seeing it in Architectural Digest, you won't mind spending money to make sure the lobby has a similar look of affluence.You may not like the idea of borrowing money.

Sounds doable after I digest that.

I now have a 2/1 with 6 car garage on 4 acres and another 10 acres tract with roughly $300k in equity between the two leftover parcels.

Programs supply the information in a quick and easy to digest format but if you want you can find some of the information for free and some of it's going to be local to you and require you to get deep into the construction industry.

@Jared Carpenter  the 20k investor etc is one of the toughest to get and manage.. just look at how the crowd funders have had issue with customer service after the fact they get cremated in social media.. too many small investors no way to service a 1000 5 k people just too many.and you will see them complain and you would think they have 500k in the deal not 5k.. what I see happening is this is become HEY I want to do that.. so you have gurus selling how too law firms pitching their set up documents at 10 to 20k a wac and then you have totally inexperienced folks spending the money and then realizing HEY I cant raise any money I have no tract record I have never done this.. man this is hard.. and yes it is.. very hard.