And when you add in the appreciation, it makes the end result look a lot prettier....20 years from now, you will not be having this conversation.

The renters say they never met the "owners" it was all done by text message and conversation over the phone.Of course the renters gave the phone number to the police when they arrived.

I have contemplated doing a conversion like that with existing warehouse or office space but I am extremely new to commercial real estate investing and I think that is beyond what I'd like to tackle in the beginning.

Let's also connect and stay in touch talking about the market and neighborhoods; I would love to have more conversations about these to grow my knowledge on it! 

I've found, in multiple conversations with my CPA, that most people will have a hard time "proving" that they're working the required number of hours in real estate to qualify for REP status.The reasoning being that if you have a full time job that takes 40hrs a week, how many hours a week are you actually able to devote to your "real estate" profession. 

You may want to have a conversation if you can 'group' the activities together with your other rental activities.

I agree with you that if you are raising capital, you need to have other responsibilities in the deal, and you can't  get compensated for raising capital unless you have broker deal license.It can work if the sponsor who is running the deal is qualified, but unfortunately, people who purely raise capital can't vet a sponsor.Caution: If you're going to raise money for someone else's deal, have a conversation with a securities attorney.

@Brian Jasinski Sit down with them and have a conversation.

All the big sites pull from MLS, realtor.com etcHave you had a free conversation with Redfin?

"It is not legal to divide an existing dwelling unit into separated living spaces, thereby creating new dwelling units, without first obtaining DOB work permits,"  That would be an illegal conversion and can result in violations and other enforcement actions.