Unless your mother in law is worth several millions - she can gift you whatever she wants, without taxes.

The home after all would be getting paid for by the rent at least.I am interested in feedback and I have a lot of questions, several that I cant seem to find an answer for in books or internet.

It seems you had several and different issues. 

Ive penciled out several properties, but it would be nice to know if I can be a buying agent for myself?

But having several partners could also cause some challenges too.In the investing world there are 2 main types of loans:  "Conventional, Conforming" and "Portfolio" loans.Conventional, Conforming - these loans are governed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

I was lucky enough to find one downtown when I first started several years back, but since then things have changed.

We have several properties in neighborhoods that folks typically ignore due to their location/reputation. 

I’m really looking at this as a way to eventually bridge my career out of health care and into real estate investment and to begin to build a future for myself and my family as I just don’t see it happening punching a clock day in and day out.

We're managing several about a mile away, in a better part of Kettering - similar size 3/1s, but brick with attached garages; cosmetics are semi-updated.

I have several agents that I work with and run numbers on at least 5-10 potential deals every day.