Much like by the end of this decade, I will take those same steps to become even less involved with work and have more times with my kids who will be really developing and that will be my focus.The difference once I made money, and was able to make it make money for me I de-risked by eliminating leverage.

I'm also in FL and am a RE investor (STR/MTR/LTR), developer, and just love RE and the freedom it brings.

Hopefully it'll be lower, but that where's my urban developers in a few other markets are seeing their numbers come in.

I personally recommend checking Columbus OH - lots of job growth, population growth, and major companies moving and developing here.

As others have said, the best thing your son can do is run far from this deal, buckle down, save his pennies (he probably already is doing this), house-hack, and improve a property with sweat, hard work, developing a DIY skillset, and self-managing tenants. 

Building a single small unit is the most expensive residential development..Here is a list of why adding a single ADU in dingle family zoned areas in my CA market is typically a poor RE investment:1) The value added by the ADU addition is often significantly less than the cost of adding the ADU.

Getting Fair deals on labor and repairs comes from developing win/win relationships with contractors.

Where I differ with most of the posters on this thread is that I feel solutions can be developed to address the problems and something similar to what the OP suggests would be viable. 

It explains the team that you should develop to have a strong foundation under you while investing remotely.https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/core-four-real-estate-team

It's in a newly developing area with houses being built and other lots selling nearby.