Prior to jumping into investing in real estate, or anything, I recommend a lot of education.Be the smartest person in the room.I recommend the books and audio tapes produced by Jimmy Napier - jimmynapier.com.

who do you suggest to use to produce the leads and approx how many household should one generate leads for?

They built up the business to produce close to $1million per month in sales.All had the ability and money to do this on their own.

If the lien had been some other type, the Seller might not be aware, that would not produce any damage either.

Unprofitable rentals often produce "passive losses".

They built up the business to produce close to $1million per month in sales.All had the ability and money to do this on their own.

I don't see RE as a job producing activity (beyond a few months) under the JOBS Act that allow lenders to avoid SEC regs.

My goal is to build a portfolio of income producing real estate, likely using multi-family properties to provide cash flow in retirement.

., buying income producing properties) or developing or fix and flipping (both of which I consider to be more jobs than investments), then it seems like you have good resources in this guy and your aunt.

Property does not have to produce income.