Use your HELOC to purchase the duplex outright for $118K.Your brother’s $50K down payment can immediately go toward reducing your HELOC balance, leaving a remaining balance of $68K.Create a formal lease-to-own agreement with your brother.

If you’re offering $450K, then you could offer to take over the $120K payments and seller finance the remaining $330K.

This is our "8 x 8 project" - there, I've said it out loud to remain accountable! 

Appraisals, Lenders and Rates : Beyond the transactions that were literally in process (sales, listings, leases, seller carries) are properties that remain amongst vacant lots.

Competition remains strong but it doesn't mean your goal is impossible to reach.

The condo I'm selling in CA could sell for approximately $600k, and I was thinking of rolling that into 2 condo/townhomes valued at about $250k each, then doing DST for the remaining around $100 for the 1031.

I believe that while it is a buyers market and renters market right now, these conditions will change within 5 years, because: - The long-term fundamentals that drive people to migrate to Florida remain unchanged, and a steady influx is a reasonable expectation. - Supply will abate. 2026 and 2027 will see less than half the deliveries nationwide of of 2024 and 2025, respectively, and I bet that is even more extreme in a market like Tampa.

The one stop shopping is definitely the appeal, but remains hard to find.  

Property owners remain responsible for operations and maintenance, only because they retain full ownership.

But the mindset remains that the structure just loses its value over time.That's not to say I think property investing in Japan cannot work -- it's just the parameters are quite different from places like the US (like many things in Japan!).