Hey BP, I am in the works of starting my first REI project.

The timeline for this project will be six to seven months.

Once you have vetted the operator and find a project you like you can leverage the experience of a real estate professional to run the day to day operations. 

For example, the Franklin Urban Sports & Entertainment (FUSE) project will likely raise surrounding property appeal (and values) significantly.

My goal is to be able to buy single as well as multifamily homes and live off of the rent (long term goal) Ive also met with a broker who works with short sales, he takes on about 10 "projects" a year presents you with the short sales in area of interests (mainly Long Island) along with high and low comps, he asks for a percentage (unknown, at our discretion it appears) of the  profit after the property is sold, he typically works with investors who buy and flip. 

This is a relatively cheap but very effective way to seal penetrations through foundation walls that we use in all of our projects.

Streamlining and setting up what you described is a 3-6 month project.

They will usually look more at the project more than you. 

A lot of your capital is tied up in other projects but you can get a hard money loan on it for 85k.

I source materials to get the best deal possible, and I manage my contractor team pretty carefully to keep cost down as much as I can, even though on my current projects I am not doing any work myself.