This is the classic equity vs cash flow debate.

This realtor picked us up from the train station, had bottled water and snacks ready for us, showed us great listings, and peppered the history of each neighborhood throughout the conversations.He was a brilliant man and huge fan of classic prewar buildings.

But we cannot make you a part of a GP upfront because we don't know if you can really raise the money".So, this is a classical Catch-22 problem: how do I prove to them that I can raise a stated amount if I cannot tell prospective investors that I am raising money for such-and-such deal and I can definitely not advertise?

It's become a classic case of just because you can doesn't mean you should.

welcome Alex, I have a few classics of landlord lit (of lost interest to the buy and type) that you could probably get there at the library (free) and work into your reading...great post!

For an investor to compare any two properties offered by two different companies using the word Turnkey to describe their offering, they really have to dig deep into their due diligence rather than just assume that both are the same because they use the word Turnkey.I have read a lot of @Caleb Heimsoth's posts on here and I will agree with a little sliver of what he said, although over-all I think he makes the classic mistake that too many others make.  

That's classic.

I was going to start with the classic Absentee owners and was hoping to filter it down a bit by type of property and amount of time owned.  

I'm gathering my data from local sources, being the Commercial Recorder and the classics (county probate records).  

The classic real estate investing book (for residential real estate) of all time is Bill Nickerson's "How I turned $1000 into $3 Million Investing in Real Estate - In My Spare Time".