It’s much easier to adjust the price downward than to raise it.The agent with the higher price likely has a stronger understanding of the local market and property values in that area.

Also, the whole point of hiring a PM is to handle tenant, maintenance, and rent collection, so if your partner isn’t actively managing but just supervising the PM, IMO not worth having a two people essentially looking over the same tasks.Contributing financially for one person and the other having no financial stake raises decision making questions, such as when to sell, how profits will be distributed, etc.

Some numbers:Expected 2026 income after raising rents to market value and assuming 7% vacancy: $144k.Expenses: $14k property management, $18k property tax, $10k insurance, $10k utilities, $8k in repairs/maintenance/advertising/admin/etc: Total operating expenses: $60kNOI: $84kBased on 6% cap rate that brings the valuation to only $1.4m, or $1.5m based on 5.5% cap rate.

Anything I need to be aware of or make sure they do for my protection?

I have no idea why, it seems obvious to me that things wear out over time, and especially with most being aware of depreciation I have no idea why there is a disconnect as to where depreciation stems from. 

I’m aware it’s never about quick cash or retiring in the matter of years. im just trying to figure out the ways to retire earlier than 60 and not working for someone else making them wealthier at my expense. 

Is anyone else aware of reasonable alternatives?

I'm looking for an agent that is intimately aware of these markets.

NONE of the money raised from the auction of a 2nd goes toward the payment of the 1st (that is why they call it "subject to the first")4.

Finally they started pressuring me to buy $5-10M properties that I didn’t have the money for and they started trying to get me to buy their other program for another $8000 to learn how to raise money through partnerships and I was just done.