I kind of want to report it to the IRS as tax fraud and evasion, but I don't have faith they would actually pursue it (when they can just audit those of us trying to do things right) and have come to grips that it is probably better to just let it go and move on.Thanks for all the input everyone.

Newbies from San Diego, CATaking a leap of faith here with opening up to this community at bigger pockets.

This can give faith from a private lender; that you are willing to put money in the deal along with theirs.Do the right things like recording mortgage with title policy for lender and property insurance with lien holder information. 

Once I took that leap of faith it changed my approach for real estate investing. 

I've spent tens of thousands of dollars in coaching and it is definitely scary, but taking that leap of faith is a bet on yourself. 

So the IRS can bump taxes collected by challenging REP status, which that other thread mentions is pretty easy for an auditor and a lot of work for an investor to have over whelming documentation that doesn't look "fabricated" on the spot after the fact.The point of this thread:   Last month a CPA gave a talk to our REIA and mentioned that claiming REP also increases your IRS scrutiny of whether you 1099 your contractors faithfully. 

Have faith in yourself and go with your gut.

Are there tenants living there that you could ask what they like most or least about the units...they normally want to stay and want to tell you EVERYTHING that they hate...hoping that you the new buyer will come in and fix it.If you want to test your broker's faith in the project, ask them to partner with you on the property.

It is not required but most of the time buyers will put in earnest money as they show of good faith that they intend to move forward and close on the home.

According to Nathan Gesner above, those rules may be for someone of another faith (???)