Through reading the suggested books, Listening to podcasts, and engaging in the community here, I have chosen my “focus” in real estate... rental properties!

my understanding is also that "active" would generally mean :‘regularly and continuously’ engaged in the business of leasing or renting real estate for income or profitnow we enter a grey area of conversation and back and forth, etc. on what this means.... just thought i'd drop this out there.... thoughts @Michael Plaks ?

You're there to engage, ask questions, study, master the vocabulary and pass every test keeping in mind you are acquiring a tool you can utilize to accrue *Career Capital

I assume so...if this is the case -  conventional  financing should be available for each property ( not as  one  8 unit loan )  ...would you  live in any of he units or rent them all ....down payment required is  substantial ...if engaging seller on their  financing  terms  - ask  what  amount down is  needed ( it will likely be large )  length or the  term and the rate / payment requirements ...if you cant obtain  traditional financing - seller financing is an option ....if engaging on  making any offers - make sure you are  fully  pre approved  with a lender ( if you need a loan )

You can’t choose to sell an interest in a DST like you can choose to sell a direct owned NNN Walgreens.The usual order of operations for my clients is:1) Choose when to sell and how much to sell for2) Engage in a 1031 Exchange and purchase a DST interestThis can help alleviate some of the stress of finding the right NNN replacement property you want to buy and then being forced to sell in a time crunch. 

heating oil tanks are NOT regulated by EPA. you have to look at your state cleanup standards. 20,000 ppm is significant but the good news is that heating oil tends to be very viscous (unless you were using no. 2 oil) so it may not migrate very far. the cost dramatically increases if you have groundwater contamination and the groundwater is used for drinking water. you need to engage a environmental consultant, not a tank contractor.

Right now I have been communicating with the listing agent, should I engage an agent of my own?

Thanks for engaging in the conversation.

How many of these accountants and attorney did you enter into a paid consulting engagement with?

Once we knew were engaging Target (their largest retail lease of 2019, I might add), the owner of the portfolio I handle the leasing for hired an attorney who specifically negotiated a number of Target deals before.