You need to meet one of them to be considered materially participating.Spend more than 500 hours on your rental businessDo substantially everything for the rental businessSpend more than 100 hours on the activity and no one other individual spends more time than you doSignificant participation activity for more than 100 hours, and your combined activity in all significant participation activities exceeds 500 hoursParticipating in the business for five of the 10 previous taxable yearsPersonal service activity (non income-producing) for three of the previous taxable yearsRegular, continuous, provable participation in the business for more than 100 hoursThe first three are the ones the majority of real estate investors will evaluate and attempt to qualify for....

I have an opportunity to start from scratch a property management division for a smaller established firm.My payment would be 100% commission for property management services. 

Our team at LoanBidz is partnered with a service that releases a nationwide off-market property list each week.

.- I see this scenario all the time, borrowers with loan amounts less than 150,000 will get whacked with higher LLPAs simply because of the cost to service and UW the loan.

With real estate, even if you have a great property manager, you will spend time purchasing the property, coordinating construction, responding to issues your PM escalates and organizing your taxes etc...The main benefit to real estate, when it comes down to it is leverage.

Think about cities that have solid foundations and room to flourish.Cash Flow Considerations: You should make sure that your investment does not result in negative cash flow, even if appreciation is your main goal.

Thanks for the mention, @Kelly O'Keefe @Jun Lopez I provide specialty tax services such as cost segregation studies, 1031 exchanges, historic tax credits, section 179D, energy tax credits, etc. rather than tax preparation services, but I'd be more than happy to connect you a CPA (or there are great ones here on BP as well).

I'm in Maine if it helps, and not Portland/Lewiston but a rapidly growing city no less.

I have mainly focused my job search on Assistant Property/Project manager roles as I believe those would best fit my current skillset and experiences. 

Not all tax professionals offer that as an option, but some of us do, and it can be a fairly inexpensive service.