It'd be best to define your end goals and work backwards to see which investment path would get you there in a manner which you are comfortable with and can succeed in.

I think I can help you out in some aspects.

I have seen incentives work more often than not in other aspects of my life too!

So she should work to find partners in all aspects - lenders, inspectors, surveyors, etc. 

This might help you zero in on what aspect of REI most interests you.

Another aspect which mitigate some of this risk is to really understand the contract language.

I am comfortable with the construction aspect, but working on strengthening my business knowledge such as taxes, arv's, etc.Thanks Cody.

I am planning to get in there with my contractors monday, to define my costs a little more thoroughly before making an adjustments to our original offer.     

I would first define what goals you want and what metrics you want to measure.

I managed the rentals myself up until early this year when I hired a property management firm in order to get some free time back, have some backup so I can go on vacations again,  and in response to the hostile political environment towards landlords in seattle.My long term plan with REI is to get to a large enough door count such that with sufficient equity the net cash flow is enough to live on comfortably  (which I would define as matching my current gross software engineer's salary).