Okay, I think co-signing could potentially be an option in the future.

Jim's bleating about government being involved.

My wife also made it clear that if we were going to expand beyond what we already own, she didn’t want to be involved in managing them.

With countless loan options, complex terms, and strict lending criteria, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

Hi David, If building long-term equity and scaling quickly are priorities, then option 2 aligns better for you. 

Narrowing down the options will probably come down to comps and city/neighborhood specifics; things like permits.Any good suggestions for finding out how long permits are taking in certain areas?

Seller will be taking a 30k+ loss with this route.325k with 50K down to seller, 3 years of payments $1600/month, and a balloon payment of 215k at the end of 3 years.Benefits to me: (1) 10k less downpayment, (2) with the conventional route, the loan would be at 228k after 3 years of payments, so I will gain additional equity with the 2nd option since I will owe 215k (presumably I will have to refinance at that time).Benefit to seller: she gets over asking price, 50K upfront and $300/month of cash flow.Does this offer and structure sound reasonable?

I have considered turnkey properties as an option

I have one more year left, but am eager to get my real estate wheels back turning.This year 2025, I am looking to get my foot back in the pool and become much more involved in the real estate community.

I was just hoping to transition it into LTR and since we have newer furniture that fits the space well, it just seemed a shame to sell it all to do an unfurnished LTR, but again, I'm having a hard time understanding how logistically some of the details are worked out with that with furniture involved in an LTR.Thank you again for the support!