Any help or guidance is much appreciated.

Happy to help anyway we canCheers,PatTurning investment visions into reality in Phoenix, AZ - Ranked #1 for residential real estate growth and opportunity by PwC

Everyone on here says get a RE agent to work for you and help find/facilitate deals. 

If they are simply joint owners of real estate through a partnership, his w-2 hours would not help for REPS status, they would hinder as TP would need to work more hours managing their personal rental properties than working at the w-2 job and meet 750 hours managing them as well. 

think about how long it will take to recoup all the costs i just mentioned.if you want day 1 cash flow... open a savings account.hope this helps.

Most of the properties I bought are in the "high end of the low end" range, and none are on or near the water, which helped a lot.

The system was set up to allow those claims to go through, and with the right legal help, insurance companies would often settle to avoid going to court.

Glad to help if I can.

This is extremely helpful. 

I would recommend doing a "reduced" (~60%-70%) leverage refinance which would help drive your rate down as much as possible and hopefully still maintain the cash flow that you would like to have, especially since they are free and clear.If you were to go the portfolio route, I would confirm with the lender you use what their 'occupancy requirement' is.