I would still look at real estate the same meaning not worth my time or effort to even look into it.

I just don't want to direct my efforts the wrong way and put my family in a worse off position.

I would not put to much thought and effort into this.

While it took us a lot of effort on the front end to get a bank to play ball, now they've funded over $500k of deals and will underwrite more and more as we grow. 

It's a lot of time and effort involved but a lot of BP-ers are successful with it.   

We've sold over a dozen houses to NACA buyers (it was our secret selling weapon for a couple years when we knew many of the NACA real estate agents very well)...The program is for real, despite it sounding too good to be true.

I applaud your efforts for finding the 203K loan and think it's the right fit for you.  

In more seriousness, I would recommend the following (some of this might be overkill for an 8-unit building, but if this is your first multi-family, better safe than sorry):-  First, do all the stuff that won't require a lot of effort on the part of the seller (since you don't yet have a contract, they won't be motivated to spend a lot of time working with you at this point).  

NO..... it is not worth the effort

I'd also look at the longer term hold plays around the revitalization efforts of downtown and the Marina District.