I watched Chris Goff's webinar and have signed up with REIPro to educate myself on wholesaling and I am eager to get started.I would love to network with other Real Estate Investors in the DMV (DC-Maryland-Virginia) area and do joint ventures together. 

It didn't help her situation that she submitted a picture "of a wet basement" that showed no water, and her daughter actually confirmed that there was no water.While it's possible in your situation that some moisture from the roof leak may have contributed a bit, the underlying cause was the heat from the blocked dryer which was due to negligence by not cleaning out the lint trap.If it's one lease with all 4, and you have a "joint and several" clause, I'd name all 4 in a suit.

The risks are what I need to know more about as well.Below is what is stated, regarding distributions, in the Joint Venture agreement that she sent:10.

We had previously set up a 50/50 Joint Venture agreement on a 4-plex.

You have a product that's inferior to other listings.

On the other hand if you plan on more than one joint venture it costs less than 500 to set up an entity and pay for the licensing for a year.  

Note my Lease states that I write a joint check and mail it to the first tenant alphabetically. 

Or, simply team up up with someone in a Joint Venture until you are able to self fund.

This is very easy case for the IRS to declare such joint investment to be a "prohibited transaction".If IRS determines that your IRA engaged in a prohibited transaction the penalties can be up to 100% of the IRA value.

What route do you think makes more sense to bring together private capital for flips?Would a simple JVA would suffice at this early point or SEC regulations would make this more complicated, and expensive?