So my 2018 goals are:Work no more than 30 hours a week across all my businesses, to do this I need to allocate the hours at the beginning of the week to a specific task/project and make sure when I had set time to work that I am focused and efficient. 

It breaks it down by property and task, and who did the work.

A real estate operator with almost 10 years of experience and a ~$9 million portfolio of residential real estate has tasked me with raising capital to replicate the strategy which has demonstrated good returns.I would love to hear from the experts on BiggerPockets as to the best course of action.

A real estate operator with almost 10 years of experience and a ~$9 million portfolio of residential real estate has tasked me with raising capital to replicate the strategy which has demonstrated good returns.I think that a public non-traded REIT with a focus on residential real estate is a good strategy.How would I start a public non-traded REIT?

After the apprentice has learned the basics, they could take over some of your tasks.

I am a complete newbie and want to know the task I am taking on.

A task made much more important by the fact that my partner and I invest in every single loan we crowdfund.

I can assist you with that task.

I do think you can find deals there, but what I am saying is that your best bet is to find an untapped neighborhood near you and start mailing them consistently.To win at foreclosure auction you have to have the back data on the property (history, amount owned, liens), know if someone is living there (tenant or owner), estimate the interior upkeep from the look of the exterior (no easy task) and knock the doors of the next door neighbors and the three across the street to get a gauge on what they know about the homeowner (not always well received, but you are trying to help them by turning a foreclosure into a flip).I hope this helps.

Keep your handy man, get a good software to assist you in all the tasks and manage them yourself if you have the time.