Not a big deal, as max liability runs me maybe an extra $200/annual for all properties combined vs. one level down.

If you are married and you keep the loans/properties separate from your spouse, you can each have 10 loans... 80 units combined (if you buy all fourplexes) with low interest 30-year mortgages!

Then I bought 2 rental properties and got a refund in each of the following years of $6K... so that is a $20K swing just because I bought 2 properties that were about $40K combined out of pocket.

I rent to about 130-140 students and I've found it pretty hard to figure out what college kids care about other than:1) Location to something fun (bars or football stadiums)2) Huge bedrooms and/or living room3) A combination of the first twoIt's my experience that their housing choice is almost always an emotional decision (i.e. they can picture themselves having a lot of fun at the place they're going to live).

If the election is made, material participation is determined for the combined activity as a whole.

When combining funds with another IRA for an investment such as being a lender/co-lender for the purchase of property, do funds have to be distributed back to the IRA based on the percentage of money invested or can it be based on the actual amount contributed or can funds be distributed based on percentage of OWNERSHIP which I assume would require some kind of agreement between the two lending parties. 

As far as investing goes and combining that with your primary purchase, I would strongly recommend finding a 2-4 unit and going FHA so you can put as little as 3.5% down.

@Dan Shelhamer I use a combination of Google Keep, Asana, and Trello

If you combine this with down payment assistance, silent seconds, grants, and whatever other programs the borrower is eligible for, they can get into a home REAL easily and the lender isn't going to back out of the deal because they bear virtually no risk.

For people investing in Los Angeles, Bay Area, etc. they "make up" for it with a combination of (generally) increasing rents and appreciation.