If it is just the business and not buying a building or the land beneath it then it is not generally a real estate licensed activity.You need to check for each state what is or is not required.You could go on a site like Rocket Lawyer etc. and for a nominal fee ask the question.In commercial real estate transactions you can generally have consulting and other fees on the HUD-1 as RESPA does not typically apply.To look for more businesses you could look at bizbuysell.com  Sellers typically want 3 times gross profit earnings so if 100k a year after expenses they want 300,000.

Can you imagine your monthly property tax liability being larger than your mortgage?

The problem you may encounter is this will eat into your profits given the small scale.I know what mean about the challenge of going after a "turnaround project" that is remote...  

But They seemed to specialize in providing funding through private investors which states they will take 1.65% of every profit on each investment.

I moved very recently from Connecticut, where I had invested in duplex and single family properties and am looking to leverage the economies of scale that generally come with the larger asset class.Looking forward to working with all of you!

I recommend leveraging to build a larger portfolio.

I believe we pay him $500/mo plus a portion of profits from deals but I'm not 100% sure on that.

While the property may not still return 20% cash on cash, it would not be losing money on a monthly cash flow basis (hopefully..)But I think that is lazy and irresponsible, especially if you own anything more than a property or two.So I generally try to run what if scenarios on each property and then subsequently run what ifs on my larger portfolio to make sure that the portfolio can weather any economic storm that may come through.I have only been in RE for a few years and didn't gain the experience from 2008 so my question to the group is what scenarios do you test or have you encountered? 

Long-term plan is to own 1 larger apt complex with on-site mgt.  

You might consider both (asking for references, and scouting the early bird material buyers in different sections of store) so that you have contacts for quick-and-dirty jobs, as well as larger projects.