My dad and his brother are looking to sell her home.situation: I’d (grandson) like to propose to my dad and uncle that I would handle the RE sale of her house, and would provide me approximately 400k (current valuation) to deploy in an REI manner. 

Someone who can order materials and find labor/subs to complete value add in a cost effective manner is always a need and saves money over using a GC.

The returns for passive and active are not that different - unless you are active and have a sustainable competitive advantage like superior market knowledge.The other knock on syndication investing is that the minimums are high.  

You've probably heard of big Landlords losing property, but only because they were flagrantly violating Fair Housing, running a slum, or otherwise violating the law in an egregious manner.

The full intent is to live in the apartment for a few years and see if the investing thing is a sustainable option to save up and build a house on the acre.

The full intent is to live in the apartment for a few years and see if the investing thing is a sustainable option to save up and build a house.

If you were buying a 500 unit property from Blackrock, you would have all the information and financials you would want in a very organized manner.

This builds trust and gives them assurances that we have gone through the proper channels of saving them money while still making the repair in a timely manner. 

Just because a $500k home costs under $2-2500 in mortgage payments, doesn't mean it's not an expensive asset that requires maintenance and upkeep to sustain value. 

For further research on this - google: "FHA multifamily self-sustainability".There are some other loan programs that might be a good fit for you, Freddie's Choice Renovation loan might be something to look into.