I always thought it was a cool idea, but anytime I see tech people get into real estate and construction (especially to this scale), I really pause and take caution. 

to get to the point, i would find an area likely to experience more demand and ensure the financials work out for both MTR & LTR's. i would ideally start out with a fourplex and depending how that goes, possibly scale from there. i do believe that it is more traditional to syndicate on larger properties so i am wondering if you know if it is possible to syndicate, starting off, for one fourplex or even one MTR condo. my gut feeling is to start with one beach-front condo in florida that requires $37,250 down . a new construction fourplex, however, i could finance with a USDA loan myself and not have to consider investors so that may make things easier, possibly.no airbnb's. maybe VRBO. two week minimum stay. only in areas very likely to have housing demand due to new factories being built.i own/run an STR right now and it is going well with only the occasional hiccup.

For larger bridge loans and development deals they are solid Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs: Tarik I dont think she said she was refinancing i think she said she is looking to finance so probably an purchase money loan My main point was that these scale of loans the borrower needs to look within and be realistic if they can truly qualify.I am not sure if this company will take the 10k when cursory information reveals a high chance of loan being rejected..and if borrowers are qualified for this type of financing they usually have a pretty good grasp on whats needed. 

In a similar but smaller scale situation I had my real estate attorney reach out to the law firm listed as the LLC's representative (this was for a single unit not whole buildings) and it turned out the owner was letting their kid live there and didn't have interest in selling for that reason but I felt it was worth the tryI hope to hear more updates from you @Cole Barthel !!

MKE is still a great market, but quality investment grade properties are not exactly cheap and that is probably true for most Midwest markets.

Roofs, flashing, gutters, downspouts, grading all are important things with shedding water off of and away from a house but people often don't think about these things until they have a problem that has caused damage and then its expensive!

My goal with RE investing is to build enough passive incoe to one day soon leave my 9-5 and, along with my partner Account Closed, be able to dedicate myself full time to scaling our business. 

I would also recommend all three of David's BiggerPockets books for agents, Sold, Skill, Scale.

I am not interested in investing with anyone, just looking for some advice on how to scale without giving up too much cash flow.

It really makes sense to me to hold onto the duplex or condos if you decided to split them for the long term and keep your focus on scaling with your HELOC and $15k saved, but again I am not sure what returns you are seeing if you do a 1031.