I've heard about land trusts paired with LLCs, and was curious if someone could shine some light on the structuring, and formation process for this.      

Most people can agree it's a very slow process to build a portfolio, working to accumulate more units and reach financial freedom.

Some people say there's value self-managing in the beginning to get a feel for what is outsourced to a PM, too.A lot times, the people that do well with self-managing get good at systems and processes (or have lots of time and patience!)

This beginning learning process will be really crucial for you as you start to understand the basic principles of real estate investing and hone in on where you could have the greatest competitive advantage.

The goal is for each of us to retain ownership of the completed buildings, though we're undecided on the ownership split.Appreciate any advice or recommendations you can offer. give a value to everything. your deferred GC fee which even if you do it for 5% markup I would so you earn something and aren't hoping something happens down the road.

I think a more prudent (and achievable goal, not to mention far less financially risky) would be to start free classes/seminars to teach them how to delay gratification, increase their education and earnings potential, find quality and affordable child care (perhaps creating a "swap group" within your group for free trade-off CC), learn how to properly manage finances, and all of the other tools needed before you can even begin to invest in real estate.

The “coach” rarely gets involved in the process of teaching you personally.

So my question is - is there a way to offer an extra 20k outside of the normal escrow process?

I want to develop a process, but don't want to waste time with gathering research points that are ineffective.

They simplified the process for us all while explaining to us in depth the important factors when buying a single family home.