But as far as the technical aspects, I found this article pretty helpful:http://retipster.com/valueofland/I like the comment above about playing the buyer's hand in poker. 

Hi Ahmed, if you want to invest out of state, be prepared to do your due diligence and be comfortable with a property manager handling all aspects of your investment.

You need to find out if your contractor is qualified to advise you on all aspect of a building.Looking at lipstick and words like "completely rehabbed" are throw around all the time.My clients will look at a 100 unit property.

It is a great place to meet new friends and learn about various aspects of real estate and more.

@Chris Simmons I do not know if I would say 123Landlord is "big in Canada", but it is one of the only property management systems that gets the Canadian fiscal aspects right.There was a new system from a company out of Chicago posted in the Marketplace forum a few months ago ...

My only concern after speaking with my real estate attorney is the depreciation aspect (since that's one of the best aspects of real estate) and how that would work since the property would essentially be being "gifted" to me. 

Your other option is to back off on the personal aspect of the relationship. for the tenants where the church is paying take action as soon as you don't see rent.  

When the market shifts I'll be at the courthouse steps.The Apex vision is to to bring the new home aspect of home building to the real estate market I have my first "true closing in two weeks and I refuse to loose, we plan on listing 2nd week of Dec. it will be around a 4 month flip.

If they were well occupied with good tenants, they should have been able to afford the gifts unless they were losing money in some other aspect of their business.

Networking with professionals and stakeholders in real estate business is very crucial for finding attractive deals and also never let any good deal go because of some minor factors or unnecessary details.