Professional Real Estate Status

Hi Mr. CPA:

I was referred to you by Kathy Fettke as an expert on real estate
professional status.

I'm gearing up to qualify as an RE professional for 2009. It will be easy
for me to log 750+ hours and more than 50% of my time, but my CPA questions
how I can be considered a material participant in my properties when they
are all out of state, I haven't seen any of them, and they all have property
managers.

Right now I spend most of my time LEARNING about real estate investing,
asset protection, tax strategies, etc., and SEARCHING for good properties to
buy. I'm trying to figure out what additional activities count so that I can
do those too. For example, should I buy a local property and remodel what I
can with my own hands and coordinate the rest of the labor with
subcontractors? Should I take an online course to become a home inspector?

Can you clarify what kind of activities would hold up well in an audit?

Thanks.

Concerned Real Estate Investor