You mentioned the rent-to-buy strategy which is very coincidental because I just finished reading a chapter on lease-options in one of the BiggerPockets books and I am considering this for the reasons you identified.

You don't identify your location - but you should be able to purchase $150,000-$170,000 or so... definitely look for something you can add value too or use part as rental.

You want to identify the most active brokers in your market and start reaching out to them and establish some trust.Before you even start reaching out to brokers, you need to be well prepared and have a very clear understanding of what you are looking for and what your investment strategy is.

If he already has the one identified then that should suffice, but he is able to identify up to 3.

@Ryan RomingerYou know, asking myself what are my goals, just told me that I haven’t clearly identified what they are to myself.

Check out the Ultimate Beginners Guide here https://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investingHave you identified what type of investing you want to get in to?

You've identified the hot buttons for due diligence. 

Yes an architect should be able to identify any code deficiencies that would need to be corrected in your kitchen & bath.

Most have already identified the key issues: does the PPM comply with federal and/or state securities requirements, what level of investor due diligence are you looking for on the PPM issuer/syndication, what level of due diligence do you want on the underlying real property?

Either you or your friend can identify through BiggerPockets or by google a local realtor, a local contractor and a local property management company.