if the buyer does fund the transaction, how do i go about incorporating my fee?

More passive, more bang for the buck, and very tax-friendly - the IRS gives people more financial reward to be property investors than any other investment.To incorporate your potential love of flipping, I might suggest finding distressed properties, fixing them up, then renting them out.

we need your help to choose the business entity that is appropriate to our goals in REI. my partner and i are focusing on multifamily home rentals with sec8. we are trying to build passive income and maybe do flips on the side in illinois where we reside. do you think we should incorporate our business name with LLC or S-corp?

Owner occupant loans have ways of including/incorporating that "boarder income," but alas investment property loans do not.

Adalanto, CA is a prime example, but it is a separately incorporated city which set up an area specifically for this.  

I am strong in finance/accounting (not a tax person though) and love spreadsheets as I used to work in corporate finance.  

I will incorporate the principles you've described. 

I'm also going to incorporate the rest of what you've said.

My main point is that being away from your home adds risk and costs to your project that you need to incorporate in your decision process.Yeah 80K is a tough limit to have especially since you are only looking for a cosmetic work in that area perhaps Lynhurst, or farther out.. get on google maps and follow the NJ or LI transit lines away from the city to find something reasonable.You may want to start looking at the sheriff sales, though the times that I went went to the union county sales, if was rough.... you should go to the auctions with out any money just to see the process before you try to bid.And to be fair...

I have some solid experience in personal finance and work in corporate finance for a large publicly-traded company.