My mentor told me I was still charging too low for the value I was providing. 

The impact to a balance of 100 or 200k is substantial.

Denton County offers opportunities in suburban and college town markets, while Grayson County provides affordable entry points with cash-flow potential.

Can you please provide some context on which project you participated in?

Wouldn't hurt to consult a tax pro just to make sure there isn't a more tax effective strategy but I don't think lending provides any tax shelter.

@Sung Yu You can 1031 exchange your fourplex into a single-family home, provided it’s initially used as an investment property (rented for 1–2 years) to meet IRS requirements.

Found T&H realty services to be pretty interesting as they provide both buyer brokerage service (to help me find deals) as well as do property management i.e. they are not full turnkey provider necessarily, but reduces some of the hassle for me I guess as an out of state investor. 

I was thinking if I can talk to my neighbor about sharing the cost (I, the landlord, personally provide labor and my neighbor provide material (e.g. fence pickets)).

@Marc Zak Using an LLC for each property provides strong liability protection by isolating risks to individual assets, with income and expenses flowing through to your personal taxes on Schedule E.

Do you need to provide proof of funds at the bid or are the actual funds due at the time you win bid?