He invests out of Utica and has several rental properties there as well.

I've heard so many success stories on the BP podcast of people who've done really well with the buy-and-hold strategy and have the freedom to travel and not have to work a 9-5 (unless they want to, of course) and can pursue other interests, so that is a huge dream of mine too.

I've lived here my whole life and know the area and properties very well.

to get to the point, i would find an area likely to experience more demand and ensure the financials work out for both MTR & LTR's. i would ideally start out with a fourplex and depending how that goes, possibly scale from there. i do believe that it is more traditional to syndicate on larger properties so i am wondering if you know if it is possible to syndicate, starting off, for one fourplex or even one MTR condo. my gut feeling is to start with one beach-front condo in florida that requires $37,250 down . a new construction fourplex, however, i could finance with a USDA loan myself and not have to consider investors so that may make things easier, possibly.no airbnb's. maybe VRBO. two week minimum stay. only in areas very likely to have housing demand due to new factories being built.i own/run an STR right now and it is going well with only the occasional hiccup.

As you get further away from standard real estate practice, the risk is increased by a “legal” risk that your protection may be interpreted quite differently than you expect by a court and that the subtleties of the protection a mortgage or trust deed document provide with established law and court decisions handed down for (in the U.S.) 250+ years is not existent. 

We purchased in a different market a few years ago as well.

Despite his efforts, our partner has not fulfilled his responsibilities (besides other things, he has to handle county and state dealings, as well as completing the plumbing work. 

Some of the best properties that we bought were properties that we got well below ARV and were on the market for a long time. 

Some will be okay with being in a bad area as long as they get cash flow, but others are okay with getting that 3% as long as they are in a good area that will grow well. 

Often when I work with real estate investors to create asset protection strategies, most tend to prefer a simple asset protection structure (something low-cost that does the job essentially).