There are many scammers out there, with histories (criminal and financial) that they are not proud of, trying to raise money.

This may help with getting your parents to have more confidence in you financially. 

If you need financial help, ask under the "Finance, Tax, and Legal" forum.

Learn what each one of these are, and see which makes the most sense to apply to your specific financial plan. $150 cash flow on any rental especially a triplex is dangerzone imo. 1 month of vacancy of 1 unit could destroy a years worth of financial gains.  

Over time, I’ve accumulated more cash reserves and don’t need as much flexibility, but I’m actually in the middle of a refinance right now using an interest-only mortgage—because the pricing with the lender and the corresponding ARM is more favorable than a comparable principal-and-interest loan.The key with these alternative or "exotic" mortgage types is that you need to be financially savvy and have a solid plan.

I have a renter in there now and am wondering if a cost-seg makes sense to do financially as I am planning to keep the place for 10+ years. 

If it’s doable financially I’d recommend the duplex.

Also, the whole point of hiring a PM is to handle tenant, maintenance, and rent collection, so if your partner isn’t actively managing but just supervising the PM, IMO not worth having a two people essentially looking over the same tasks.Contributing financially for one person and the other having no financial stake raises decision making questions, such as when to sell, how profits will be distributed, etc.

You'll get lots of these, some with very enticing financial offers.

@Ben CallahanRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?