Consider self-directed IRAs and connect with working parents for a balanced real estate and family strategy.Good luck!

It's a balance of cashflow and wealth accumulation.One of the goals is to have tenants pay as much of your cost-of-ownership as possible (loans, taxes, insurance, etc.)In high-cost areas, any Class A or B property you buy will usually negative cashflow for the first 3-5 years, until rents rise enough to cover the negative cashflow + rising taxes & insurance.Investing OOS increases your risks because you may not know the market and you can't check on everything/everyone all the time.If you move forward with your buddies, HIGHLY recommend creating a solid Partnership Agreement!

With some proper planning and the funds to lock in materials early, you can have an efficient build, but certainly not fast.

Dealing with S8 tenants successfully requires proper screening.One of the best screening tools is to inspect their current home - how it looks is how yours will look within 90 days or less.

Properly collecting these fees is a key part of financial success in real estate investment.And hey, why stop there?

While both involve finding and properly securing a site and bringing it to full entitlement, the ground-up process includes the land piece but gets way more involved and complex to execute.The full "Monty" for ground-up development needs to include financial literacy, an explanation of metrics, and how they work.

IME (in my experience), you would charge a fee (say 50-100 basis points) to the banks/investors, often times based on the either the commitments or the outstanding balance of the fund. 

You don't have to balance them against each other.

Your main concern should be whether these bedrooms and bathrooms on the lower level are legal and have the proper egress require for fire code and livability.

That said, there are alternative ways to meet the requirements, and with proper planning, you might not need to rely on these specific tests if most or all of the participation comes from you during the first year.