Very curious to hear some of the different perspectives on this because I am looking to try and completely insulate my businesses from one another as well as from personal liabilities. 

Your plan of investing in 2-4 unit buildings in SD is a great strategy and I applaud you for your "numbers first" perspective (very few of the newer investors I come across figure out this mentality as quickly as you have appeared to).In regard to your question about the best way for someone without a RE license to access the MLS in SD; I think Sandicor's 'Client Connect' site will be your best option.

Then, I subtract my fee, which has been $5K every time, because anything more, in most cases, would be completely ridiculous from the seller's perspective (as if a 50% of market value offer wasn't ridiculous enough to them already), and anything less would make it hard to recoup my marketing dollars spent.  

Can you share some perspective on the market for hostels in the U.S.?

@John Woodrich I understand, however I'm providing a different perspective.

Let me put it in perspective, my partner tried to raise capital for hotel acquisitions through crowdfunding and the portals declined simply because they were not interested in crowdfunding hotels in general.

I want help with some perspective on how this partnership would best work please.  

I'm not an expert on the law but have been a part of the development of the short term housing ordinance in LA (from the perspective of someone who shares their home). 

@Caroline Hires Just a thought, from an online marketing perspective, I googled "how to invest 100k" and didn't see any top-of-page advertisers - you might bid on that keyword (or similar), create a short landing page making the case for why investing in real estate with you is a good idea, and how to contact you to chat at the local Starbucks.

I like Dave Ramsey and Chris Brown (Biblical perspective and works for DR).