I've found the RE community to be super collaborative and supportive.It can be a little overwhelming at first, but if you're committed and use the resources available, I'm sure you'll succeed!

It is entirely possible to manage your own taxes and educate yourself but this is time many can't commit to.

Making the initial move is sometimes the hardest, but you can develop a profitable real estate portfolio with commitment and perseverance.

Hopefully you don't have to commit to any extreme sacrifices to make your dream come true, but you do have to ask yourself what you ARE willing to do.

Lesson: if you are attempting to commit fraud it’s probably ill advised to have a sitting President as your victim.Utilizing a substitution of collateral is in NO WAY FRAUDULENT.  

Here's some info about what's happening in Metro Detroit recently, By the way, no one else is committed enough to gather & share this type of info about their marketplace with supporting proof.Volkswagen Scout Brand investing $11M in Detroit, 200 new jobshttps://www.teslarati.com/volkswagen-scout-11-million-detroit-investment/Hotel Added to Hudson Site, total over $1.4Bhttps://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2023/11/02/hudsons-site-hotel-plans-move-ahead-as-city-issues-permit/71426631007/Detroit west side Dexter Neighborhood Receives $21.5Mhttps://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2023/11/01/neighborhood-on-detroits-west-side-receives-more-than-215m-in-investments/Norway’s Nel Hydron investing $400M, 517 new jobshttps://businessfacilities.com/nel-hydrogen-will-build-400m-gigafactory-in-southeast-michigan#:~:text=In%20Southeast%20Michigan-,Nel%20Hydrogen%20Will%20Build%20%24400M%20Gigafactory%20In%20Southeast%20Michigan,green%20hydrogen%20using%20electrolyzer%20technology.Chase invests $200M in Detroithttps://www.axios.com/2023/09/28/detroit-rebound-jp-morgan-investmentGilbert Foundation invests $439M in Detroithttps://www.henryfordmsu.org/news/september-2023/gilbert-family-foundation-announces-nick-gilbert-neurofibromatosis-research-instituteBollinger Motors investing $44M, 237 new jobshttps://michauto.org/bollinger-motors-plans-44m-metro-detroit-investment/15 New Detroit Developments to Be Excited Abouthttps://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/15-new-detroit-developments-to-be-excited-about-photos/Slideshow/32734721/32735392BorgWarner Investing $20.6M, 186 new jobshttps://www.crainsdetroit.com/auto-suppliers/borgwarner-invest-206-million-create-186-jobs3 International Companies Choose Detroithttps://www.detroitregionalpartnership.com/international-investment-comes-to-detroit-region/District Detroit $1.5B Development, 12,000 temp jobs, 6,000 new jobshttps://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2022/11/15/district-detroit-1-5b-development-to-include-housing-retail-hotels/69649853007/6 New Residential Developments in Detroithttps://detroitisit.com/6-new-residential-developments-in-detroit-to-know-about/$2.5B New Center by Henry Ford Health, Pistons owner and Michigan State Universityhttps://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2023/02/08/incredible-investment-in-our-city-25b-detroit-neighborhood-redevelopment-to-begin-in-2024/$300M Huntington Place Renovations & New Detroit Hotel https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-estate/huntington-place-renovations-new-hotel-deal-reachedYou'll also want to be careful about falling for the misleading "let me help you by sharing my story" posts of members like Joseph Bui, who are really just trying to entice you to contact them so they can sell you properties.We are very open that we're here to get people interested in our Detroit market to do win-win transactions:)

I think the "short term loophole" is probably a great way for tax benefits for my situation, just not sure if I'd be ready to commit to something more active like that.

steps to decide: 1-flush out the cash flows & sales proceeds of both scenarios, discount them based on what % of the return is likely to be realized vs "optimistic"2-find a delta in the cash flow of the risk-adjusted outcomes (pretend these are your most-likely outcomes)3-determine your time investment on the self-managed opportunity4-divide line item 2 by line item 3 and compare against how much income per year / hour your time is roughly worth5-if this figure is less than your desired income, avoid the time commitment investment; and if the figure is more than your income, buy the time commitment if you're wiling to do it.

I didnt consider that a strong agent (with full time commitment) could likely bring in more value than the extra 2.5% that I could save.

It's smarter to know your market and potential buyers before committing to a property.