I'd like to farm my neighborhood (I live in a community called the lakes in Las Vegas) to find willing lease option participants. 

Very interesting stories here, thank you to all who participated.

But if you read a dozen books, go to meetings and talk to people, read and participate here, and start doing or at least trying to do some deals, you will learn the business well enough to be profitable.

In the meantime, you can invest anywhere you want, because many of the real estate participants are used to the remote showings, closings, management and even rehabs.

@Kira Volpi @Jeffrey CharterGreat discussion.Make sure an attorney assists you in the drafting of the specific language & giving you specific advice.It may make sense in your agreement with the contractor/builder to have a penalty clause that severely reduces his participation percentage if the project is not on time or over budget.

If you get your REPS by materially participating more than half your time in real estate than your passive activity losses can offset your non-passive income, but how is it possible to acquire any non-passive income if you need to spend more than half your time in real estate which is considered passive?

I currently only participate in multi-family syndications, so he did not have a lot to offer me at the time. 

You can participate in sharing the profits or not, either way you do not stop progress.

That said, if you have a really good opportunity to make some high return investments, participating in that rather than contributing more might make sense.

Section 8 is a federally funded program administered locally by municipalities who must follow HUD guidelines in order to participate and receive funds.