I'm a bit hesitant, because if I ask a tenant to pay $1700, wouldn't he/she prefer to just buy a house, and pay the same amount of money for mortgage?

If you're talking about a hard money lender (who may prefer to be called private money lender), they will lend the money into the LLC once the deal has been reviewed and approved, taking a security interest in the property (mortgage or deed of trust), and most likely a personal guarantee from at least one partner in the LLC.if you're talking about actually taking on an investor partner in a deal, then they would be a member of the LLC and how the money comes into the partnership would be negotiated up front and dealt with in the partnership agreement.

We prefer not to have pets but do a through screening of tenants and pets so hopefully avoid some of the excessive damages by getting good owners.

We were doing a VA loan, and the underwriter needed to be sure that the home was going to be the primary residence..One of my colleagues just closed a purchase in 7 days, after the borrower had issue after issue with Provident (different mortgage company) and was close to missing his deadline.I prefer being able to obtain exceptions on a case by case basis, rather than having to fit everything into a little box.

To do this compare rent prices of 3/1s to 2/1s (order of preference if available: both condos in same complex, condos in same area, SFRs).

You should probably take the time to read the BP Beginner's Guide (http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing) if you haven' already to get an idea of what niche you might pursue.If you do all that and you're still interested, I'm in the Springs and could sit down with you.

In fact, I had several tell me it was illegal.I live in the S.W. burbs of Chicago, and prefer someone fairly close as travel is difficult.Thank you in advance for any help.Keith

I'm trying to find my niche and work from there.

What is your niche?

And, in a Reverse 1031 Exchange, the Qualified Intermediary is required to acquire and hold ("park") title to either the replacement property (preferred method for the taxpayer) or the relinquished properties.