I never wanted to be caped on what I could do with a property so I ventured on my own.

Wish you the best with your venture into the rehab game. .

He knew that I had been doing subdivision and land development for many years, and this was his first venture there.

If your real passion is to pursue an entrepreneurial venture, I would focus your time and energy on that.

I was going to focus on wholesaling, but right now I'm working the joint venture deal angle and looking for private money lenders.

It's a 3 bed/2.5 bath colonial with a pretty open layout (considering it was built in 1969) which would have to go one of 2 ways -1) HELOC it and do a total rehab then list and sell for top dollar, pay off HELOC and use proceeds to fund this "joint venture"2) Sell as is, which is def going to be 50 cents or less on the dollar compared sold comps in the neighborhood (anywhere from 300K to 500K) and use proceeds to fund this "join venture"---> I'd love to hear pros and cons to both of those points <---From an investor perspective - what is the best way I should approach this?

Or you could could have a separate joint venture agreement, that handles when he gets paid.

And if at the end of the day you can't find good deals there, don't be scared of venturing into other cities if you are talking about rental properties.

What was the last rent or mortgage, was it near the same amount and paid on time, that should tell you what to expect.Looks to me like he might be fine, I wouldn't get that tied up in what he claims as an expense in his self employed ventures....:)

What would you recommend far as meeting someone familar in the area and joint venture if I'm in cali?