I would base this on your numbers, not sellers (seller financials are one of the biggest jokes of this industry), and your return requirements.

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. 

However, these strategies require careful financial analysis and planning to ensure that you can obtain sufficient cash flow to cover your expenses and debts Isn't it 7.5?

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/