I am hoping to create some sort of fund for friends and family to invest in so I can start scaling.

I am from a small town and have family that invests in rental property, but on a very small scale.

Menomonee Falls is interesting in particular, because it is attracting huge amounts of money (several new 500k subdivisions, think: tax basis) while there is a good stock of older rental grade homes. 

Purchase price 147KListed for 299K, sold for 285 (went under contract for 290 but dropped it another 5K at buyer request after the appraisal just to get out of the deal)Home Depot credit card: 10K (appliances, fixtures and other things we picked out and purchased ourselves rather than having GC use typical builder grade stuff, also husband did some of the work himself so bought his own materials)Brought 40K of our own cash to the closing table, loan total when paid back was 185 (original loan 175 plus 10K in accrued interest, 12 month balloon loan so we did not have to make payments during the rehab, which helped a lot with cash flow, also loan had rehab costs folded in so for the most part we paid our guys out of the loan and not our own pockets)So (numbers are round): 285 sale price - 185 (loan payback) - 40 (cash we brought to closing) - 10 (Home Depot card) - 10 (closing costs) = 40K profitWork done: insulation and vinyl siding (this ate 18K of rehab budget but was unavoidable as cedar shakes were disintegrating), converted to natural gas heat (ducts already in place, changed out electric hot air blower to gas one and gas company ran the gas from the street for free), replaced AC compressor, new water heater, two new bathrooms, replacement windows, new appliances but left the wood cabinets b/c they were in perfect condition and I could not justify painting/replacing them, new kitchen backsplash, removed wall between kitchen and dining room, wood laminate flooring throughout except for new carpet in downstairs den, painted the deck/railings, new garage doors, one new slider, all solid wood interior panel doors, of course fresh paint and new light fixtures throughout.dining roomThere was moisture damage downstairs from bank not winterizing and pipes bursting...thanks, bank.Hauled out enormous old woodstove and broke up ugly old hearth and left good flue for someone to add new pellet or woodstove to if they want to, we figured not everyone wants a woodstove and this way the buyer can decide to add one back if desiredBathroom off downstairs den, chose a walk in shower for variety, hosing off dog or muddy children, disabled access, etc. 

I call this the hybrid approach, maybe investing locally in deals for your active spirit if time, skills and interest are there while balancing more difficult DIY projects out side of you area w/passive focus in niche areas like large scale value add apartment investing, mobile home parks and self storage for instance.  

Certain things (again, my personal opinion) like out of state investing get materially better with scale.  

Although there are some that have scaled up and own hundreds of franchise locations.

(Reason for quitting: I work 90+hrs/wk, about to have a kid, and hate the idea of missing out on them growing up).I did more digging and people told me apartment investing was SFR rental's on crack...economies of scale, better financing terms, more options, easier to raise value, etc.  

With larger buildings everything scales, so if you have pests in one unit, you'll soon have pests in 12 units.

  (2k for cabinets - medium grade RTA, $700 for tops, 1,300 for install).4) 2k for appliances (stove, microwave, dishwasher, and fridge)5) 4k for bathroom (tub, surround, vanity, toilet)6) 5k in flooring.     900 sq ft carpet (1,800 - $2/sq ft using lowes whole home install deal), 400 sq ft tile (utility room, kitchen/dining, bathroom, and entry way) (3k).