However I had shown up early and had seen the tenant leaving with her belongings and children so I waited for the sherriff to go and took back the house.

While not extemely common, there are MULTI's that belong to HOA's.

I agree with you that they are awkward, and they could potentially turn people off from the group since they seem like a time killer.I would personally structure it so that there is plenty of time for people to network before the meeting starts (having drinks around always helps), and during the meeting I would explain why you created the group and what your vision for it is. 

Ask them how long of a lease they are looking for (we have a minimum 12 month lease) to gauge whether they are going to be long term tenants, or not. 

They said if the home owner has or creates an Open Hold title then someone such as my self, an investor, can work with the homeowner to sell the house and take a portion of the revenue all while the deed belongs to them. 

My sister went to school here and she lived off campus in of these houses and told me its not a party school just occasional drinking at the bars and back home.But back to the point, what are your guys' thoughts on investing in an area like this?

We can introduce ourselves, talk about what we want to get out of these meet ups/ experiences with other meetups that you may be part of, and have a drink.  

But about half of that time I'm not really doing anything serious.  30-90 minutes a day is collecting rent, or waiting to collect rent and drinking beer. 

I told him "I don't drink"!!!  

A thing to consider about the school district: I used to live in Rincon and my kids use to belong to Blandford Elementary one of the best schools in Effingham in my opinion; but then we moved to Guyton and they changed them to Sand Hill, well my wife didn't like sand hill and she requested to leave them in Blandford, the only down side is they have to be car riders, they can't ride on the bus because is out of district.Back to Funds...So while you are paying cheap rent, leasing your house, and collecting all this money then is time to find some lease purchases deal yourself or owner financing with low money down.