It is introducing cheap money into the market that will artificially drive up housing costs.  

The life estate could also be seen as an artificial limitation to your investment activity. 

I figure - if they have half the intelligence and 10x wealth, I’m sure to be as successful.

Ask intelligent questions until I can contribute meaningfully to the forum4.

@Thomas D. if I understand correctly, you and your uncle are going to form a conspiracy to falsely inflate the value of your properties for the purpose of taking loans from a bank in amounts larger that would be allowed if not for the artificial inflation.  

You and I are on the same page about the effects of increasing rates (they couldn’t stay so artificially low for so long without consequnces) and the benefits of the tax billI asked you if you had any data or could at least point to any tangible signs of the Bay Area market taking a “hard hit” (your words) any time soon. 

The only thing that I truly believe is guaranteed in this industry is that you are responsible for your decisions.I shared a lot of my story on here earlier and I will tell you that I was buying some really bad deals when I started even though I was rational, not a dreamer, a very successful entrepreneur, a local and out of state investor and I happen to think I was kind of intelligent. 

I would highly recommend The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.

His point is clear though, if you have the risk tolerance, you can be financially free long before you can be debt free if you employ intelligent leverage.

I would get all the responsibilities and strategy lined out ahead of time and then consider the money and value that each partner is bringing to the table.I'll let more intelligent and experienced people discuss the LLC issue.