@Justy Bee  that would be a good way to enter the note business with others that are close to you and are doing it...

We have about $22k in *emergency* cash savings, plus relatively new retirement accounts (3-4 years)There were two things holding me back from entering this world...

Every time I enter in all the necessary numbers & click "Get Quote", I get a vague message saying, "We are unable to process your quote at this time."

Focus on what area of real estate investing you want to enter (wholesale, fix and flip, buy and hold, etc.) then learn as much as you can as fast as you can about that subject. 

I am getting my RE license so I can have unrestricted access to properties and not have to use a realtor to show me properties.If a realtor feeds me a property that I end up buying I have no problem signing a property specific agreement that is required for inclusion in the offer they submit on my behalf.In my short time trying to enter the RE business I have met several realtors who what you to commit to them and then just want to feed you automated listings without ever providing any property/area analysis, comps or anything else.They want me to screen the automated emails for them and they just submit the offer....that is not what I need a realtor for, if a realtor has no time or willingness to earn my business by actually demonstrating what value they can bring to the table by screening properties with actual details/analysis & numbers and forwarding those to me so I can determine if they really do understand my needs or if they just want to be an administrative paper processor submitting the offer and contract paperwork after I do all the research...not interested.  

What about the depreciation or book value how does that enter into the equation if I trade down?

As for buildium - if you record the transactions correctly you will have an accurate Cash flow statement to look at - it will not take into account anything you have paid towards principal and subtract that from  your noi provided you make the entries correctly and have the chart of accounts set up correctly.So the tricky part is recording the initial entries - I'd actually suggest if you plan on making the move "Officially" Jan 1 2016, start now and enter all transactions for 2015, and 2014 (if you can) into Buildium - it will make the flow go so much smoother and you can learn as you go, insuring you are setting up things correctly as you go along.To record a mortgage in place, just follow their tutorial - (customer service might even walk you through it as well)First you need to have the appropriate accounts set up on the "Chart of Accounts"You could do it any number of ways - one way I'm doing it is -- have a main account titled "Mortgage" under liabilities  (long term liability)Then a sub account of Mortgage titled "US Bank Mortgage"   "XYZ Bank Mortgage" -- or "Mortgage - US Bank" etc -- Then you will want an account for "Interest" under expenseThen under Assets you'll want an account titled Escrow - then if you want to further track things I'd suggest setting up a sub account titled "Escrow - US Bank" or "US Bank Escrow"  or "XYZ Bank Escrow" etc    (Escrow would be a current asset)After that you'll need your current mortgage statements -- to start the books you'll need to enter a general journal entry for Escrow, Interest, Principal (Mortgage)Once you have that you're off to the races and can enter the mortgage payment each month, however you'll need to know the breakdown of Principal, Interest, & Escrow - for example the entry in your bank account will look likePayee -- US Bank -- you'll enter the date etcThen below you'll have the breakdown of the total where you'll enter $400         Principal$300         Interest$150       Escrow-------------------------------At the bottom Buildium will automatically add up the totals to whatever your house payment is for the month -- in this case $850Hope this makes sense -- best thing is to just play around with it a bit and keep checking yourself on the entries and in the general ledger -- your mortgage payments have to be entered manually every month, however this takes little time if your mortgage company offers online account access and gives you the payment breakdown - can be done in a couple minutes.Get over the biggest hurdle which is setup and the rest will be SO much easier.  

Essentially, we align homeowners with property managers who are willing to enter into long-term guaranteed income deals - so turning the vacation rental into more of a long-term investment property for the homeowner.

If you are interested in preserving the relationship and family peace then this is a very dicey area to enter into. 

Now we have settled in in Holland Michigan and our 3rd son will enter the world here In a week or so!!!