@Darshan Patel Ultimately, if a NJ lawyer told you this is how it is there, then you have to play by those rules.

To add more context:The ultimate goal is income => financial independence.

And actually, the BP Ultimate Beginner's Guide is a great resource too.Hope this helps, and again welcome to BP :)

But, thanks to learning about budgeting for emergencies and CapEx we have survived and overall have had a challenging, but positive experience.

At some point we're going to get the answer to your question I suppose, because the so-called "sharing" economy is probably not going away, nor is the individual hustle; technology has made super-sized employers less powerful and more people than probably ever before have the opportunity to survive on side hustles and non-traditional work. 

Regardless of what the lease says, I am ultimately responsible.

My ultimate goal is to invest in apartment complexes and be able to separate myself from my day-job by the time I am 30 (I am 23 right now). 

This preserves the estate tax credit and passes it along to the surviving spouse so when the surviving spouse dies, the children could use both parents estate tax credits in the same estate.

My Ultimate Goal: Build a portfolio of $10k+ passive income (net) and live by the beach in San Diego within 10-12 years (and "retire").

So far, I've narrowed it down to a couple cities that I have done some research on but ultimately, I would like to build a team first and have boots on the ground to follow.