In the past 3 years it’s become blatantly obvious I just can’t swallow the idea of working 40 hrs/week, 52 weeks a year, for the next 30+ years to simply retire and then explore other life opportunities at the ripe age of 60.

I'm looking to see if there is an opportunity get more experience in the real estate world on a part-time basis.

As I said before, there is opportunity here, but there are also a lot of "cheap" old buildings whose locations are even of little value.But you are correct, in the past months, we've seen a lot more "money from away" coming to town and buying buildings "site-unseen".  

He has the opportunity to purchase a property from a good friend of his for a killer deal, but he doesn’t want to flip the contract on this one.

You really can't beat it.Last night, I got the amazing opportunity to meet the legend @Jay Hinrichs and his lovely wife in person.You see, Jay has been following my journey in real estate investing for the past year and a half.

Has anyone invested in a newly created Opportunity Fund?

It makes me nervous with some of these services that rely on the tenant to input the data (which you do not have an opportunity to verify). 

Anything is possible, it’s just not probable.The big opportunity in note investing today is the purchase of notes where payments are in arrears, or the note has a balloon maturity which has occurred, and modifying the notes to create a performing note.  

But if he sells you the LLC he loses the opportunity to do a 1031 exchange and defer tax on the sale of the real estate because the real estate is not being sold - only the entity which owns the real estate.If he sells you the property then the LLC could do a 1031 exchange. 

If you think it will be better to "get them out" this will give you ample time to complete said repairs, and then you will have the opportunity to find quality tenants (hopefully before winter!)