I work full time so am looking to do this on nights, weekends, days off etc. 

I like free weekends :). 

I highly recommend reading Keller's Millionaire Real Estate Investor and Mike Summey's Weekend Millionaire. 

Other times I have literally rented places over a weekend after doing credit and background checks.  

We were there every day after work and every weekend but it wasn't enough time and I couldn't afford to contract the work.

My time around the area is limited (especially because of the holidays) so I might have to make the trip from school to come shadow you for a weekend or something.

@John Kaftan, @Ronald Starusnak, @Dave Charron: I will be driving to Syracuse this weekend to visit some properties (10/13), can you refer me to some good contractor/handy man/property manager?

It's usually not until the exit when you will need to worry about any individual state filing.Also the syndicates will have your home state info and will generate any K-1 specific state info if needed.For instance I had investments in CA so I did get some CA specific K-1 I needed to fill.The only thing I did discover is every investment will generate a k-1 so adding them one by one into turbo tax can be a fun weekend activity.

I would need to hire a GC to run the project as my involvement could only be weekends (in person) or nights (virtual). 2) Buy and rent.

And if I were looking for a nightly rental for a weekend, I would not want to stay there.