I have no problem with being forward with him (He is my brother after all) but I want to make sure I'm not missing any questions/statements that should be made, as well as treating him fairly as an investor.

Although the city treats this as a renovation, its really new construction.

This may be a long post, but I thought it would be good to walk through everything step-by-step, and explain my thinking along the way.If you want to stick with me through it all, here we go:I was not going to be getting a conventional mortgage for my first property for a number of reasons.First, I am still annoyed at the hoops I had to jump through to get a mortgage for my primary residence.Second, my liquid cash was on the lower end.Third, the properties that I would need to start out with would not be financeable anyway.Fourth, my DTI is on the high side, due to the decision that we made to take out a HELOC to complete interior improvements on my primary house.So, I decided that my path was going to be to form a single member LLC, and take a loan from my 401(k) at work to finance the down payment.Since I do not view the 401(k) loan as a long-term solution, I am treating like hard money, and pay it off ASAP.So, my first deal would be a flip, or a rental that was such a good deal, that I could re-fi out and pull all my cash out.I decided to reach out to the commercial lending department of the local credit union, which I am a member.The person I talked to (who became my lender) is fantastic.I told him what types of properties I was looking for, and that I’d look to turn them into rentals, or to flip them.I will never forget his response, which reminded me why I love this credit union.He said:“Typically, the deals you are talking about are much smaller than the deals we like to do.However, we also realize that you can not get to that level unless someone helps you get there.So, if the numbers make sense, we will see if any of our products fit.”Awesome!

The idea is that all IRAs are treated as one big IRA when determining taxes on the conversion.  

Remember, everybody loves being treated like royalty.In terms of finding deals that offer the numbers that you're looking for, I would send out yellow letters and postcards consistently, have the right conversations with sellers, and you'll find what you're looking for.

I think all you need is a title company to close your transactions - no don't need an account at this time - most title companies have lawyers to close your transactions -You should make sure that you buy real estate at a giant discount - Understand the management process - learn how to be a good landlord - a tenant is a customer - the tenant is the person who will pay for your mortgage - treat them well.Find discounted real estate from landlords who find themselves in rent court -Start to deal directly with owners - I don't think you should depend on agents selling retail properties - you need to go under-ground for great deals -Tax salesPublic AuctionsRun print ads and radio commercialsInternet - 5 weeks ago I created an internet site - I have received over 200 leads - have 70 offers out there and 15 ratified contracts - learn those systems and you will do well.Expired listings - go knock on some of those doors - an expired listing is  FAILURE of property to sell - I am sure the sellers are not happy - go find them and solve their problems.Direct mail to commercial properties owners - commercial buildings can be  great profit center - when you advertise for real estate - signs - internet or mailings always advertise - WANTED REAL ESTATE - houses - commercial and non-conforming properties - all cash -as is - no commission.

I have heard that owning 3 families puts you in a different bucket and is treated as a commercial building Should I stay away from them.

And you may have to replace/repair more when you turn over from tenant to tenant depending on how badly they treated your property and what kind of condition you want to provide for the next occupant.Good luck with it all.  

The smell of cat urine, and more-so, spray is near impossible to remove once it is embedded in the subfloor ... it's even more tenacious than dog urine.We bought a property where tenants and their farm had been for 9-years ... it was a complete gut job - even the concrete slab, under the subfloor had to be treated to remove the smell.Good thing your tenant is paying over market rent as they longer the felines stay, the more it's going to cost to be rent-ready for the next tenant.

My advice, treat the tenant with respect and I hope that she will reciprocate.