Development deals will then fall in your lap - trust me...I've been in your shoes - be patient.  

If you were in my shoes at 23yo would you cash out all of your retirement funds and take the hit now, or continue to save for a down payment.

Congratulations you are going to the next level, I've been in your shoes- it's something you should take very seriously because your are no win the securities world.  

Because the house my wife and I (the second pair of shoes in my profile pic) put in an offer to the owner of the house i discussed last week and part of the pool decking needs to be filled in with concrete.

To be fair I wouldn't want to be in their shoes and give us a bad answer, I'd rather they be conservative.So here is my question.

If I were in your shoes I would not try to start my own thing but plug in with someone else doing it already, offer to work for minimum wage if you have to, because the benefits will be HUGE.  

Never done it myself, but that's what I would do in your shoes if you can survive off the minimal pay.

She needs to provide you a bill that details her charges, just like any other contractor would.If I were in your shoes, I would have to have a difficult conversation with your partner and possibly his wife, and talk about all the issues you've laid out here. 

You're doing a better job than I think most PM's would do, so I wouldn't hire it out if I were in your shoes.

And if I ever sell the house, I’d be stuck between the morality of posting tax record sq ft vs. losing value with appraised (real) sq ft.Anyone ever been in these shoes and actually negotiated a discount of some sort?