A friend of mine started out as a "handy man" helping a GC and a few years later ended up being a GC himself--I'm assuming he went through the licensing process, etc. 

Paper currency got its start as little promissory notes to pay gold, and then because the notes were more portable than gold, people started using the notes as money instead of the gold itself, which is why you sometimes see references to "one dollar notes", etc.A seller may or may not accept a promissory note as payment. 

Thought is we would have an LLC with an arrangement of the ownership of the property would be mine since I am fronting all the money.

The comp shows exact properties like mine are being sold for 400K right now.

There are a-lot of mining and ski resort jobs nearby and Craig is the main hub and county seat. 

I closed on mine just after the school year started, so there weren't a ton of people out looking.

Numerous offers followed that I suspect were higher after mine was accepted.

Recently I found a friend of mine has been living in the same rental for 14 years.

The risk is much less when you can cash flow, I just think appreciation, at least in a market like mine, is super powerful for scalability.

In fact, the last three rentals of mine that came up for renewal in the last year had new tenants apply, background checks completed, and first months rent + security deposit paid sight unseen.