Total loan is $500k so the other $400k comes from other investors.My husband invested in a note with Aloha last year as a trial, and unfortunately that one went into default a few months later.

Last piece of advice is to surround yourself with quality service providers (real estate brokers, lenders, accountants, attorneys, PM's, Contractors, Insurance Brokers)., They will be instrumental to your business. 

I lived in St Paul for 19 years and now live in a suburb of St Paul for the last 6 years.

The last thing was we were a partnership & they would only lend to a corp. or LLC.

We paid off our primary home last year and have been slowly getting the courage to jump into the investing market where we live in the Pacific Northwest.

I signed up last year and I'm just now started to take my investment plan seriously. 

My last note would be to try to buy 3 or less replacement properties, it makes the exchange much easier and you avoid some additional rules.

Additionally, while rates aren't historically bad right now, they are higher than 4-5 years ago, and they will be even higher for you as an investor than they were as an owner occupant, which is what you were when you bought originally.I get that you are anxious to add to your portfolio, but that could be achieved without touching your first golden goose.Sometimes on BP, the push is to leverage every last spare penny, but that can be a risky game as the markets shift. 

I haven't heard of any, but met with a few people in the twin cities last year.

But, I had a vision, and I had a decent chunk of capital to start with (don't worry, that didn't last).