(as a gag gift)Mike

The downstairs is an antique gift shop and I am updating and remodeling the upstairs into an apartment.

If you are not a saleswoman and don't have the gift of gab, then it may benefit you to get a license as it will allow you to research via MLS 80% of the real estate on the market.However, if you can sell ice to an Eskimo in Alaska during the winter months, then you'll find a willing Realtor to help locate properties for you and maybe even create a great relationship with one another offsetting who does more work, allowing you to focus on your full time job and the details in what you are trying to accomplish in real estate.A license can help but a license will not make you successful.

I need 3 months of mortgage reserves, which can't be paid for with a gift.

Porras The Spell Binder's Gift by Og Mandino Key to Yourself by Venice Bloodworth Sam Walton: Made in America by Sam Walton and John Huey You and Your Network by Fred Smith Wake Up and Live by Dorothea Brande How to Read a Book by Mortimer J.Adler and Charles van Doren Coming out of the Ice by Victor Herman The Lessons Of History by Will Durant and Ariel Durant Developing the Leader within You by John C.

We had planned to use a gift from my father for about 1/3 of the downpayment of 20 percent and closing costs, but our lender only discovered that this was an issue for investment properties after we entered the closing process.

That time I refunded three days rent plus a $100 supermarket gift card for each of them and that worked out fine. 

@Tommy Ostendorf, It's really not so much a 1031 issue as a gift and tax planning issue.

I normally tell my owners to try to incentivize things with small gift cards, etc.

If you have the ability/gift to create jobs and make money, then continue to do so, while creating a positive difference in the world.