It all comes down comfort level... i.e. risk, ease, worry, etc.

If you aren't diving into real estate investing full time, it is also a good way to ease in, work with other investor and gain experience through them. the down side is: it's sales and commission work, no effort = no $$$. it's a lot of busy work (I work with foreclosure and short sales, and investors). it will distract from your own investing objective.

I took the exam in 1996 and passed with ease.

any of these might make good references, you might also suggest having the contract written up by a mutually agreed upon lawyer to put their mind at ease.

The advice here that makes the most sense to us is to keep “the accounts” separate for ease of accounting.

This is a thoughtful thread, and I appreciate everyone's input.The existence of tension hear proves the delicacy of the issue.

But the ease of doing so varies with the type of lien.

The other issue was guests would park in the driveway overnight and block a tenant in when they needed to get to work - - creating more tension.  

They also do the self-directed IRA's.Very happy that I made this decision because of the increased investing options, AND the ease of changing my mind.

My desire to grow my portfolio, so I can ease off the job earlier in the future..