@John Roberts: This is very gray transaction.. if you actually break the transaction apart (i.e. the sale of the property and the issuance of a loan) and have them as truly two distinct and separate transactions unrelated to each other, then you can do it. 

Not all states have the distinction.

There is definitely a distinction between the two. 

This is an important distinction as they are covered differently in the State's Landlord-Tenant Act for Mobile Homes.

Even if you keep the financial aspects of the transaction very distinct and clean, there could still be benefit if either party is enabled to participate in a transaction it could not otherwise because of access to the funds of the partner.

It also might not be a meaningful distinction, but my business is focused on buy and hold, rather than flipping, so I don't have plans to sell any of these projects in the next several years, although I likely won't personally occupy them.  

Is there a distinct line on when you have to do that (relationship with investor, amount of money, size of deal,etc.)?

I guess that's the distinction but the renovation schedule we are putting in is designed to not have to touch these buildings with CapX for 10+ years thereafter.

@John Warren yes, that's a good distinction.  

In my friend group, nearly all who rent could afford to buy.... renting simply fits their lifestyle better at this point in time....I think that's an important distinction.... it's not that millennials can't purchase a home.... it's that they choose not to.