I'm not looking for a get rich quick scheme; just doing practice analyses makes me understand the time and effort that must go into finding a GOOD deal on an investment property, as scenarios with a cash-on-cash return of less than 10% seem almost pointless -- there are other avenues to investing which would produce better returns.

My grandiose scheme, aka “business plan” has so far been to leverage my not-insignificant construction resume to get stellar yields out of properties that traditionally have not done well, and therefore force appreciation.  

and other schemes that allow politicians to get on TV and look good.

Not that I am not a believer in the altruistic nature of humans, but I am also a believer in the scheming nature of humans.I would guess that there is more to the story.

I did not think it was necessary to type this specifically.I think you are arguing over words, rather than agreeing with the general scheme.

Good questions but it was a pyramid scheme I had to get ppl to come to a meeting and they pay me and change me for my training

Frankly, this asset is small enough that the benefit of not putting it at risk is fairly small.  60k isn't going to make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.  

Reason for asking is in a US citizen who has lived abroad for years and has been grappling with the US worldwide taxation scheme - very expensive and not fun!

To further quote Howey, “The test is whether the scheme involves an investment of money in a common enterprise with profits to come solely from the efforts of others."

This could indicate that the $272 is probably a nice bonus for him to have but that it's not that significnat a sum in the grand scheme of things.