Goal is to replace W2 income, initially. 

If your all-in cost to build for below market value and you are able to place quality tenants, then you should be able to leverage the completed project in a way that allows you to pull out some of your initial investment tax deferred to fund future investments while keeping the rental income and future appreciation.I am a CPA by day and advise many developers on tax strategies.

Initially it seemed like the relationship was skewed in my favor - why would my partner want to put money in to only get 50% of a deal when he could just buy the property himself and rent it keeping 100% of cash flow and equity.

I've realized I omitted an important detail regarding the proceeds and my initial thought behind forming an LLC.

Happy to share that contact with you.Having money and good credit is something I had when we started and it was very helpful in obtaining the initial capital we used to fuel our growth getting started.We are shooting for 100+ properties by the end of the year.

I also have them initial that section I read it to them and all in agreement.

@Dennis Rodriguez and @John Truong - Thank you both for providing input.After the initial overwhelming response to my post (bad joke), my colleague referred me to www.thumbtack.com that facilitates meetings between investors/homeowners and service providers of all types.I will definitely get a few referrals from the local REIA, as well.Wish me luck!

So sustained maintenance should not be your concern, your concern should be on how fast you can recover the initial cost of the hot tub, the maintenance is not the issue.Argument #2 Seems like this is based out of fear and the unknown.  

For instance, while it can bolster initial cash flow by reducing tax liability, it could diminish deductions in subsequent years (when the property might produce better cashflow), impacting overall tax footprint, so you need to take into account all that in the context of your short term and long term tax strategy (e.g. if you plan on selling soon, at which time the depreciation gets recovered, or not and planning to hold for a long term/forever/1031, buying more later and creating more depreciation to offset cashflow or not, etc.).The alternative is a do-it-yourself (DIY) or survey option, which costs around $400 to $500 per property (I can do my CSS report in 10min, once I have all the data needed).

Most lenders do have similar processes.Most of the people who will advertise their services to you here on BP are brokers for direct lenders.Most of the Brokers on here charge an arm and a leg for their services which is the reason why, initially, I did not utilize private lending.I'd be happy to recommend the Broker we use who is great at what he does and is very reasonable when it comes to the commission he adds for his services.We do a lot of investing just outside of Charlotte in the York, Chester, and Lancaster Counties.