Over the years, with personal investment alongside investments from family and friends, I’ve been able to build a small portfolio of apartment buildings with a focus on cash flow through strong operations.

If you make the person an LLC employee you can get around it, but partner does need to be careful. 

Intangible assets like goodwill or tangible personal property (e.g., equipment) are excluded from 1031 treatment and are taxed separately—goodwill is typically taxed as a capital gain, while equipment may be subject to depreciation recapture taxed as ordinary income.To minimize taxes on the sale of the business, consider strategies such as Opportunity Zone investments, which defer gains until 2026 if proceeds are reinvested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), or structuring the sale as an installment agreement to spread taxable income over multiple years.

It also gives you multiple work surfaces so you can have more than one person in the kitchen without getting in each others' way.

While I don't personally cover the Scranton area, my team and I work extensively with investors in the Philly suburbs, and I’m always up for a great real estate conversation.

@Pranita Maldikar Unless the seller is a family member or personal friend, I'm not sure why you'd want to put that much money down on the property.

Told them to do a drive by and call me back with an offer :)The person who called you probably just spent $15,000 for mentoring and “education”, and is now in panic that his 250 cold calls have not produced anything .  

I personally like Alabama and Tennessee a lot, depending on what specific area you're looking at.Look for Class B or C properties in stable rental markets, particularly single-family homes or duplexes.

It can be a very good market, but the why behind your choice may help us give you better advice on how to move forward.Before realtors and property managers, you really need to meet other investors so you are making a good move by trying to do that here, but it would be better if you could do it in person.

Ultimately it would boil down to your personal risk tolerance.