In effect, I had a partnership, with my parents.  

I'm all for pulling the trigger on a deal if you have the cash and its going to generate the cash flow.While it may be a little high on the LTV side for what I would do, the fact remains that you were able to grow your portfolio and increase your cash flow.

A "real estate broker" is any person, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, association, professional corporation, or corporation, foreign or domestic who, for another, and for a compensation or valuable consideration, does, or attempts to do, any or all of the following...In Utah, we have a list of exceptions including being a principal on a transaction.  

There might be a partnership opportunity or more flexibility based on the deal.  

Include when the option will be exercised, usually prior to construction, and what terms must be met for the option to trigger the sale.

Hello BP,So I have been anxious to pull the trigger on my first deal for some time now.

I'd suggest you hang as close as possible to SEC regs and/or utilize entities and partnerships until these aspects have a final determination.

Commercial is something I've been tempted to get into since my mom has experience owning/operating restaurants, so I kind of have a built-in mentor there... haven't pulled the trigger yet... 

I have one company (partnership) which owns rentals (comp1).

Usually in a partnership scenario you take equal risk, she has no risk and no money in the game.