I'm working with a real estate attorney to help me with transferring the deed.

Multiplied by 3-5 bedrooms and that gets real expensive. 

Given the related-party rules and tax complexities, consulting a 1031 exchange expert, real estate CPA and attorney is strongly recommended.This post does not create a CPA-Client relationship.

I am interested in meeting people from whom I can learn more about real estate investing. 

The people that run these companies usually come from an "investment banking", real estate, or construction background.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Do you have to know all of the ins and outs of real estate?

I would try not to tie up any of the principal in down payments.Personally, I had a family member do this same thing, but they used an investment portfolio as the collateral instead of real estate.If you play your cards right, this might be the only short-term money you ever need.Please let us know what you end up doing.

Personally if you are looking to grow in real estate going the traditional method/way of getting good properties under agreement with traditional financing will get you to where you want to go faster than trying to find all the needles in a haystack.

Really wish we would have learned how to better utilize buying real estate and finance and how life changing it can be.