Or would it be better to simply partner with them, they are friends of mine, with the repairs for a percentage of the profit?

Since they will be entering into a contract with you as the landlord this is for both parties protection.

Now we can get to your comment on the last paragraph; I simply asked a question and asked for advice from the community.

Simply having a bankruptcy in the past doesn't mean that the tenant won't pay the rent.

The guru's that promise to teach you the secrets are often packaging generic information and selling it at phenomenal markup to people that want to get started but often do not have the resources to start and the fee they are charged simply puts them further behind. 

And if you simply have a passion for music, I'd be delighted to make your acquaintance too! 

It's my understanding that if there's a "partial exclusion", I'd use a Form 8949 with Code H...And if it's "fully excluded" and there's no 1099-S issued (which I indeed received no 1099-S), then I'd simply not mention it at all.But my biggest question is....

Specifically, is there a statistical difference in the likelihood of actually acquiring the physical property versus simply earning interest on the debt as a financial investment?

Hey guys,I'd like to listen to this podcast, but stuffing the following URL ...http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/feed/podca...into my podcast reader (MediaMonkey) isn't working, manly because the end of it doesn't contain a filename.Can you help me out with ...renewsblog/feed/podcast/index.rss or rss.php or whatever I need to enter?

I simply take issue with you saying "..I do believe this is a good thing for Americans.