When you know the trades, you will have a huge leg up on other investors when it comes time to evaluate a property for rehab.

The better comparison when evaluating what to invest a tax-sheltered retirement plan into is what else the plan could be investing in, and where you can find the best overall mix of security and income production.  

Each individual piece of commercial has to be evaluated on its on standing.

Great BRRR, cashflow about $500/ mo but after BRRR would pull almost all cash out of the deal so infinite returns.Deal C: Ok house in ok neighborhood in bigger city, asking $140k but near major University and new metro services/ path of progress. 4/1 would rent for $2k month with minor updates, but needs a foundation repair (roughly $20k).

I suggest you tag along and learn as much as you can with them. 12 years is a long time and you can make lots of progress in that time period even if you were to just focus on RE during the summer break.

Most construction loans I am working with are I/O and some have the ability to turn to perm loans.4)For quickly evaluating a property and deciding if it is something to move on, I trust my own underwriting and my partners knowledge to see if a project will be feasible. 

I found these criteria outlined by Neal Bawa as a good way to better understand some basic trends I should be aware of when evaluating cities and neighborhoods https://www.udemy.com/course/realfocus/I utilize his approach and pull the data from cities I might read about in a BP article or hear on a podcast.

Evaluate and overcome my fellow “mom and pop” landlords!

If you were in my shoes, how would you use the abundance of time and travel perks to further your own investing progress and/or provide value to a more experienced investor you hope to learn from? 

Even Paul Krugman, champion of progressive policy, agrees with that.That's a nice reading list you've got.