Understanding their motivations allows you to frame your offer in a way that aligns with their goals.

I knew that my life would be slipping away from me if I didn’t take massive action towards achieving my goals, so despite my fears, I kept going.

Additionally, do you have any other ideas or strategies that might help achieve his goals without incurring a tax liability?

Yeah my goal is around 30% but its hard to achieve, especially using a hard money loan.

There are two types of return from a rental propertyCash Flow & Appreciation.I normally also aim for a minimum of 8% return between Cash-Flow and Appreciation.Appreication, nationally, is around 2% to 3% annually.Therefore, your goal is to get the cash-flow to be about 5% to 6%.The issue is interest rates being very high, you would therefore, need to buy at a pricepoint where the numbers still make sense.You can always put down more of a downpayment to cash flow, but that will impact your cash on cash return calculations.Best of luck!

Once you're ready, create a goal (e.g., "I will buy at least one single-family home, duplex, triplex, or fourplex before the end of 2019") and then do it.

My goal, over the next five years, is to utilize real estate in lieu of my current hourly consulting income, by building a portfolio of rentals.  

Hope you are able to achieve your goal!

It's certainly not impossible, but it's probably going to take you more time and more deals to win one.Like you, this was my goal when I first started out. 

@Jacob Dalton realistically, I think it all comes down to your goals.