Many newcomers spend their first few years working under a sponsoring broker, and during that period, the broker often earns a significant portion of the revenue.

gotta echo the sentiment for spending some time on the ground even if a small amount on the front end. 

I think this gives me good asset protection and allows me to take advantage of leverage. 

So you each spend a few grand on a mediator and then work it out.

You're going to have to spend a bit of time researching markets but I think picking a market you like to visit is always good. every vacation becomes a write off! 

And yes this is a 1 in 1000 situation but plenty of other disasters could happen and having the right insurance policy is huge to protecting down side risk. 

So you could form a partnership but it would not be allowed to purchase the property, so you will not be fully protected legally

Exactly that’s why I’m trying to figure out a way to take ownership or protect my investment as I’m taking over payments and do not wanna leave it under their name as they can just come back and take it

Hey Peter, thanks for the comment and the insight and you are absolutely correct about knowing what sells in your market, I see this happen with a lot of fix and flip projects that are just in the wrong areas, the investor gets the house for a good price however spends too much on repairs and adds a lot of luxury thinking that it will push the ARV significantly higher than the average in the area.

Quote from @Scott Tennell: For real estate investors who have worked with private money lenders, what strategies have you found most effective in structuring deals to ensure both parties are protected and the funding process runs smoothly?