We really appreciate all the knowledge the Bigger Pockets community has to offer and look forward to interacting with so many inspiring people!

@Dave Foster  Hey Dave can you chime in on how the OP would accomplish a 1031 in this scenario. 

I like the idea of hard/private money lending with this money for a couple of reasons:Returns appear to be higher than the 1.5% this fund is getting YTDCould provide experience about this process as a lenderCould help me foster relationships with players in this space to fuel my own real-estate goals (most important)With those 3 goals in mind, what are some of the things I could do with this money?

I say that to say, I can't speak to whether long distance wholesaling would work but if they're using direct mail, it wouldn't be any different than doing it locally EXCEPT for the face to face interaction of course. 

@Dave Foster About the 1031 exchange, are you saying I should do it at end of my flip, or at end of my 1 year holding time.

You also wanted to minimize the interaction you had with the investment and not do the management yourself.

The act states,"No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."  

Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books for this or you can learn by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum.

One of my instructors was a residential expert, the other commercial.The interaction and acknowledgement of my peers, and being able to give input to questions asked and asked questions that needed input, you can never get online.Your mileage may vary, but I have already decided that when I take my brokers class it will also be in person, face to face.

@Dave Foster - thank you!