Have them do a market analysis to give you an idea of what the property would be valued at.

I would love to offer help with anything or any projects that could use help so I could get my "feet wet", and would love to build a strong relationship with someone knowledgeable. 

While I'm relatively new to REI, I bring with me a quarter century of lessons learned in running high-performing teams, managing projects, and getting things done. 

If its your maiden project, I'd be concerned about the distance from the property.

I found it's 15-16 years LOL.So the first downturn was in 1992, followed by the increase until subprime stopped the party in 2008, then Bernanke Helicopter market saves the market, but Fed trying to increase the rate unsucessfuly in 2019, and then they use the covid inflation to pause the market in 2022.in my own analysis, these cycles are not created by nature but it's intentionally programmed by the Fed.

The BTR are excellent for building huge amounts of equity and if you do it right, have infinite returns from the cash flows holding them long-term.I also do some other projects here and there.

As long as you are honest with yourself about how sure you are about your estimates you should be able to use project management skills to bring the project in near to the estimate you planned. 

My projected ROI is 4.5%... so do I purchase it, or wait and save up that money for a bigger down payment on a multi-family property?

Your risk tolerance is going to be huge, I have had a few projects that were uncomfortable for me to work through and I would have gone about them differently knowing what I know now.

Was wondering if anyone has any experience in this in south jersey or surrounding area to help shed some light on cost of project along with tips to starting out.