As such, it's quite amazing to me that you can make an assumption that his capital gains would be significantly north of 500K. 

If my assumptions are correct you’re just one bad water heater/ one broken pipe/ one eviction away from big trouble.

In my assumption, I believe it would be just like owning residential multi family properties except that I would have a higher volume of interaction with the property manager.

I hope you got that in writng, especially the part about your personal umbrella covering rental activities liability.I appreciate the  question about business pursuit,  for it made me double check my previous information and assumptions.

perhaps a second set of eyes on a potential project assessment / assumptions? 

.….Yes....I re-ran some numbers once I received the Lot rent and my early assumption was a little lower than the reality. 

The assumption (but not guarantee) is that it's the marital asset.From what @Mike M. says that might be the way to go.

They probably have an army of analysts crunching the numbers to the higher-ups.Big assumption but every time I see a decent Starbucks or other retail store open up in a city it definitely catches my eye.

There are many ways to do it, and what works for one will not work for another, so my advice to you is not to take specific advice from people here (especially the ones who inevitably will offer to sell you properties or their services) but rather to keep reading Bigger Pockets, take in as much as you can, connect with and ask questions of the people that look to be experts, challenge assumptions, and discover what is interesting to you. 

Don't make your decision based on the assumption that appreciation will continue.