Purchase price: $140,000 Cash invested: $55,000 Sale price: $255,000 My business partner and I took on this Arlington property as a fix-and-hold investment.

For one, private money lenders are much quicker—I've seen deals close in just a few days, which is a lifesaver for time-sensitive projects like real estate flips or urgent business needs.

Another avenue people seem to be exploring is buying businesses.

Quote from @Travis Smith: Age 56 and retiring from farming and I’ve been very good at avoiding income taxes with depreciation and business expenses.  

Some hotels actually have a condo like structure, where people can own the units, but perhaps are limited on their personal use to only a certain amount of the year - the rest of the year it is in the rental pool managed by the hotel.If numerous room owners stopped paying their bills, you could get tax liens on numerous separately owned units.Hotels are a tough business, an issue I also see come up with them often is that they require refreshes, expensive and relatively often - at least once every 10 years, if not more often. 

I get that you are trying to garner business.

A good real estate accountant can save you thousands of dollars by leveraging entity selection and formation, tax deductions, cost segregations, bonus depreciation and tax planning.I recommend finding an accountant who specializes in real estate taxation, business taxation, financial planning and tax planning.You may want to consider working with your accountant remotely to expand your options.I would also recommend looking for a accountant willing to work with you throughout the year.

To clarify, I have been studying real estate for several years, but have been otherwise engaged in operating  other businesses that my wife and I both own, both as CFO and CEO roles.

This has been our primary business for well-over thirty (30) years, but in California ONLY.Few posters here are attorneys, let alone licensed to practice law in Hawaii.

Open a business credit card and do your renovations on that (for things that you cannot get financed with a hard money loan).