Another great read: "The 7 layers of communication" it will inspire you well and give you very good tools to succeed.

Your strike price comes from underwriting to an IRR as you work backwards from your forecasted exit price and map out the annual income given your forecasts for rent growth and economic vacancy factors and layering on expense growth inflation and cost of debt.And since the value is dictated by the income, investing in areas where rents are likely to rise the most gives the best hedge. 

I think you do need an LLC and possibly one more layer of protection mostly because you are buying in a high risk area of real estate. 

Shingles are layered from the bottom up.

Maybe even 2 layers of drywall suspended.

There are a few ways to go.LLP would be one.Each of you form an LLC and have the LLCs partner up would be another.JV (Joint Venture) would be another, but may also need the LLC layer to make sure everyone is better protected.Again, consult an attorney on this.

If this company does not offer higher limits you should consider an Umbrella policy  That policy will provide an additional layer of Liability above your homeowners Liability and your Auto Liability.  

Your problem is going to be that the bottom layers of soil in the pool are going to stay saturated and will depend almost completely on capillary action and surface evaporation to expel the excess water.

He's open to it, but warned that it almost guarantees an audit and requires added 'precision' on our part -- which could mean IRS headaches if we ACCIDENTALLY/UNKNOWINGLY did something out of bounds or didn't document something correctly, etc.My conclusion is if you're doing 'simple' SFHs, and/or you're not an LLC, or anything 'special' a CPA who specializes in Taxes and REI work would do the job, an EA who's good with REI would likely be better; but, if you want to do anything unique/creative, or outside the box or also wish to then have the business succession planning or have kids and want to have the business continue should anything happen to you...and all that added planning, maybe a tax lawyer would be best, or a Tax Layer who works closely with the CPA/EA...make sense?

You spent none of your money and you made $10,000 with no property to show (which is what you set out for).A few of the points may change of course like the numbers, a double closing, your relationship with the owner and your cash buyer are vital.