He or she will be notified of being tagged so that the conversation will continue.See here for the Guides: BP GuidesSee here for the FREE video series: The Financial Independence BlueprintSee here for the blog: The BiggerPockets BlogSearch MeetUp.com for local meetups.There are a couple of local real estate investor groups you may want to join.

But now it's my turn to step up and make sure I am financially independent from him and able to contribute to the future we want to create for ourselves.Our goal is to use this first property to get to a place where I can eventually purchase and manage more properties without his financial assistance.My question now is, what are my options for using his initial investment in such a way that legally on paper I am making an income?

That’s the thing with us entrepreneur types, we can be independent to a fault!

Currently have 8 rentals but not quite at Financial Independence.

Financial Independence and wealth building takes time but if you start young you'll find the cards stacked in your favor. 

Ben, Check with your local independent agent. 

Deep dives with Financial Independence (the Mad Fientist), Journey to Launch (Souffrant), Money for the Rest of Us (Stein), Optimal Daily Finance, Stacking Benjamins, Big Picture Retirement, and Radical Personal Finance (Sheets) all have great information. 

Would you rather drive a crappy looking car and be a financially independent millionaire, or would you rather drive a nice car and pretend to be wealthier than you are just like the majority of Americans with debt to their eyeballs?

(Without an agent on our side) (independently searching) We now have an extremely professional & experienced REA/REI guiding us through step by step. 

If you prefer to have an independent 3rd party give you an opinion of value (which is all an appraisal is "an opinion") then you could ask an appraiser to give you a "limited scope" appraisal.