Any changes in federal spending could influence the job market and, subsequently, the real estate market.4.

i think you can be successful if you are willing to do what you alluded to, which is spend time in person in your chosen market. 

Now I spend 5 years hoping they make their payments and somehow refinance to pay off the balloon. 

you are going up against people and companies that spend thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars a month in marketing. 

1. 380k2. 280kHe wants to spend $350-400k on primary.

Spend time reading the forum.

We discuss spending, net worth, and future investing goals with the cash.

Or, ya know, just spend the next 140 hours trying to get a self-study law education followed by another few hundred hours self-study to sort out how to avoid repeating the situation.That's the reality of it all. 

This is the BEST $100 you will ever spend, and if you listen to Amanda Han's tax book, you'll know it's also likely a business expense for you to write off :) https://biggerpockets.supercast.com/My perfect way to learn from the BP books is to listen to the audio book through the subscription above, then books that really stand out to me I go old school and get the physical copy so that I can re-read it, take notes in the margins, and put post it notes so key points are easier for me to re-reference in the future.

Also, keep in mind that an IN multi member LLC would require a separate tax return, so you would want to budget for extra admin fees.