Once completed, the goal is to get them rented and then pull money out of each house to build a high performance spec.

Take a bit of that money and invest in learning - go to meetups and the many events that take place related to investing in the city - some for free and some paid.

Just make sure you set up a LLC to rack up the required experience.

But enough to make to do all the cosmetics along with a few major items like HVAC, appliances, etc.

He likely needs to stay where he is, save up money for a downpayment on his own, and buy when HE is ready.He's not ready. 

I'll make sure to spend the initial deals learning and asking questions to gain practical insights.

Some are owned by my ROTH IRA and are making tax free cashflow.

Don't make it more complicated than it has to be.

Beyond real estate investing, BiggerPockets Money has great episodes on how to avoid the middle class trap with your investments - ie how to structure your investment best so that they're not all locked up in accounts with penalties until you're 65. 

Other builders did make offers.