My wife and I have a couple of teenagers so we are staring down college, and thinking about retirement as we get her parents settled in an assisted living arrangement.

thanks Matt,As you probably see, I am new to real estate biz, I spent 12 years running product team in the software company which built POS solutions for retail sector.So RE is my next venture, and from what I see so far the name of the game today and for years to come is choosing right technology and marketing tools.So it's tough with out experience in RE to define all systems and processes, I am beginning to understand the theory and systems on the high level, but I am sure once I actually spend sometime working it will be much easier.I feel like the best thing to do at this point is to focus on basics like CRM and print, emai, text, social marketing campaign automation, once those things are in place and work smoothly, will be able to proceed to stage 2,To be frank, I am looking to learn this business and then comeback into software sector in RE segment, lot of good tools out there but as usual - lots of gapsI will be happy to keep intouch and colobirate on these topics

I am also looking for a 3-4 unit, but I am looking for an owner occupied type arrangement. 

Could @Lindsey Leemis arrange for her friends to "gift" her money under the annual limits and forego any treatment of the property as investment?  

We looked into other living arrangements, and suggested options for her for the week.The tenant stayed in the house, never a complaint.  

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience in some sort of partnership arrangement where multiple partners have equity stakes in the deal, but only 1 person owns the property.For example, I'm thinking about buying a property to flip.

I can't wait for my first purchase, but I am in the early stages.

They are fairly inexpensive and if you purchase from a dealer then they will arrange financing with a company like John Deere.

I have personally never done one but I have brokered or arranged the following1.

I am in the stage of educating myself  on the field and was wondering if you all could help me with some starting questions.