Give you the wherewithal to pursue and achieve your long-term goalsMany investors start off "too hot", and they either overdevelop their first property or they spend their money too fast: either of these behaviors will stop you dead in your tracks, and you probably won't even be able to achieve your short-term goals - and you certainly won't have the resources to pursue your long-term goals.

I'm not anti-dog (like I said they already have one dog), but I'm leaning towards "no" now because I'm concerned that some of these foster dogs may have behavior problems (after all why are people getting rid of them in the first place?)

Despite my continual reminding him that beside his suggestion being ridiculous that he was a PASSIVE investor / limited partner, he continued some form of this behavior.  

I always just assumed he would stop and help (regardless of how lazy, good-for-nothing, criminal, drunk or immigrant the person was)...obviously Jesus wouldn't condone the behavior of this person (and neither would you, I or any upstanding citizen), but that's not the question.

I also have a large problem with the government trying to control our lives and socially engineer behavior through tax policy.

It assumes a pattern of behavior on the part of lenders and consumers that no longer exists.The pendulum never stays in one place.

No, I don't like giving a dime to any country, but I understand that is the way governments operate from the beginning of time, money is a trade off for behavior and favorable opportunities, that's the way the world works.

Now let's look at the resemblance of human behavior between the last housing market and this one.1989 and 2005 - top of the market1991 and 2009 - bottom of the housing market1992 and 2010 - 1st rebound1994 and 2012 - 1st small pull back from the rebound1995 and 2013 - 2nd rebound1996 and 2014 - 2nd small pull back from the 2nd rebound1997 and 2015 - the 3rd rebound???

They have licenses and are promoting improper behavior.  

Show me a study that says felons who have been convicted of X or Y crime within the last Z years don't pay rent or make bad tenants and I guess I would change my tune but it just doesn't exist.The truth is you have no way of predicting the future behavior of ANY person, prior criminal or not.