I think that you can get a lot of information by spending a few months browsing especially this website and a few others.

My original idea was to convert it to gas, but money is tight and I'd rather not spend 2K for that project.

No premium for the wow factor.Consider spending some time on the forums where people discuss rehab projects.

I have been spending countless hours working on my Real Estate Blog.

After a lot of years of wanting to, and thinking about it- I've migrated to my adopted home State of Florida (near Delray Beach) and actually spend most of the year there.

Extending Jeff's points a bit.If you pool money with 1 person you can still be in violation of the security laws.

Consider a second job so that you have more income and less time to spend it.

Hence the folks who can spend 40 or more hours checking the local properties will have an advantage over someone who works and travels outside the area.

That for sharing with the group.To extend the conversation a bit.The terms of specific trusts are not transparent to folks here.

His basic premise is that we all spend a lot of time futzing around with stuff that doesn't much matter, and if we just focused on the few essential things we have to do, we would have lots of free time.