Shorter terms certainly won't hurt you - lower interest rate, higher ROI on that specific property :-)If you haven't already absorbed it - I recommend you fully embrace the 50% rule - plan like operating costs (excluding financing) are going to consume 50% of your rents. ie don't spend 100% of your cashflow on living and get caught by vacancy, economic downturn, rising interest rates, new roof etc :-)My advice is to just keep talking specifics with your Dad about his investment objectives so you and he will understand each other and enjoy your great relationship.

I start reading the starters guide.. so enough information to absorb :D and maybe in the future I will find partners here to invest in bigger properties..Why Real Estate??

For what you're doing it is worth investigating though.I think Rule 505 of Regulation D is probably your best bet coupled with a LLC provided the deal can absorb the cost of the legal work.  

Start by absorbing all the information under the learning tab.

And the new tenants don't know what the rent used to be or whether they were paying utilities or not.Also as a bonus, your rehab costs are spread out over time and you can absorb more of it out of the cash flow and don't have to come out of pocket.My only caveats to this are, make sure it works financially on the current rents in case the tenants decide to hang out another 7 years.

I am buying a few properties myself right now and the only reason I feel somewhat confident at these prices is because I will be able to absorb any shorter term hiccups that I might have on the new properties with the cash flow from my other properties.

I see that you are prepared for work, by absorbing the trove of info on the site and now ready to take action.You have a roadmap that outlines where you want to go and the timeline to get there.Nice!

Going into a new place can be a lot to absorb that you don't realize at first. 

I am a sponge here to absorb all of the information I can so that one day I can pass it on to someone else in need. 

Absorb and enjoy!!!!!