You could have this money given to you by a friend or family member however you would need to provide the lender with a gift letter as they will not loan based on you having to pay this money back, especially if your DTI is close to their max.

My husband has romantic dreams of buying land for an eventual retirement home for ourselves (10-12 years for him, longer for me).

Well, after putting in the offer, I found out that for this type of mortgage gift funds are not acceptable as the down payment.

If you can gift that to your daughter she should be able to have a low enough monthly payment to afford a home, especially if she buys a duplex and rents out the other half. 

If this was a gift or inheritance, then use some of the money to gain more knowledge in a specific area looking to grow more.

In fact, you couldn't gift one to me.   

Hi everyone, I have a relative that was gifted RE and is now looking at a hefty capital gains liability. 

Inspect the property on a regular basis, be good to your tenants, fix things when they break, give them a nice basket and gift card at the holidays.One thing I do like about LLCs is they can make some transfers easier. 

But if your units are just comparable or less than the competition, and you're having trouble getting people to sign on the dotted line for a lease, then maybe try concessions/ gifts, things like that.

That doesn't even cover the cost of mortgage, property taxes & rental taxes, insurance, guest gift, fire wood, cable, internet, amenities, etc.