You'll likely want to start with reviewing the requirements under Prop 19 for retention of the base assessed value when adding a child to title, and also look up the rules for a basis step-up at death. 

Also Zelle doesn't allow for the ability to individually enable/disable a tenant in the system.Money orders require driving over to pick up, or the tenant sending them late and then the late fee issue is still there. 

What documents would you require before you contributed funds in any amount?

Ideally to really keep everything separate you'll want to just have your LLC, and not your name, on it and that'd likely require a novation or a new policy(full cost of title insurance paid again).

I do see where it asks me to check the box if I am an active real estate professional, but that looks like it requires 750 hours in a year of work, and I probably had more like 500 or so all together.

The original plan was to live in one unit (as requird by the loan terms) for one year and rent out the other, then move & rent both units after the 1 year requirement (currently living with relatives).

I would be willing to make a co-hosting deal if someone has contacts in the region, as my responsibilities in Maine require me to be here more regularly.

It's not a New Jersey thing, it's the IRC code. 5.7 Sfhttps://buildingcodetrainer.com/egress-window-requirements/

The price of the house ($1.4m) requires me to secure hard money lending to purchase. 

The goal of real estate investing is financial freedom.Financial freedom requires a rental income that:Increases faster than inflation: Unless rents increase faster than inflation, your true (inflation-adjusted) income will continuously decline, and your time off the daily worker treadmill will be short.