Sorry you’re dealing with this—it’s a good reminder to double-check zoning before closing, even when it seems straightforward.

But it's YOUR money, and Real Estate, to put it mildly, is a contact sport).Month 5: Deals & Network (15-18 hours/week)Submit first offersAttend 2-3 REI events monthlyBuild social media presenceKey Goal: First offer acceptedMonth 6: Scale & Automate (15-20 hours/week)Delegate initial tasksEstablish morning/evening routinesCreate follow-up systemsKey Goal: Sustainable weekly schedule🚫 Common Pitfalls to Avoid:Overcommitting earlyNeglecting W2 responsibilitiesSkipping system creationTaking on too many mentor calls✅ Success Markers:Consistent daily actionsGrowing networkClear systemsNo work conflictsSteady deal flowMaintained energy levels👉 Action Steps This Week:Audit your current scheduleBlock 2 hours dailyChoose your power hour (morning/evening)Set 30-day milestoneGeneral Comment:  obviously not everyone will follow these suggestions.  

This year will likely be even worse.  

Meeting the material participation hours is absolutely doable, even with a property manager, as long as you stay actively involved in key tasks like marketing, bookings, and bookkeeping.

Neighborhoods to invest in is a more subjective topic as that is often dependent on the type of investment you're interested in, your price point and even the type of tenants, if that's the route your going,  that you are trying to attract.

Your best bet is to find and contact all of the top local wholesalers and go to work for one of them and see what they do right and wrong and see if it's even a business you like.

BiggerPockets also has a calculator to analyze deals, and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.

A lot of people not even past viewing the property.

At $10/hr thats $1600/mo so even if you spend $5k - get one deal its paid for itself.

You only get a single point of contact for everything all encompassing, and unless they are 100% competent(not even proficient) you are screwed.