Hey Joseph, I think before you do any of that you should define your goals and what exactly you want to do with RE.

Make sure you define in your assignment contract who will be paying closing costs, title insurance, etc. 

I would definately be interested in speaking. with you Gary.

Define "put money in" I'm hoping they are not asking you to send them a western union wire, right?

How would you define values?

He always tells me if he didn't have the motivation of the real estate side, he would have been more methodical and slow on the business side (which in this case would have cost him signifanct opportunity).I would think that Conor can probably give you a better idea than i can about the implications of owner-user designation from the banks, but in my experience the owner-user SBA route would definately help you do the first one or two, but after that i would begin to evaluate bigger structures where you take up less space and begin to peel one business away from the other. 

@Michael KeyI think its important to define what you think is private money first.

How are you defining "net worth?"  

Clearly define the steps.

I like staying where I am at.The reality is it is your money and your life to live it how you define as optimal.I do agree that people using their primary residence as an ATM or piggy bank is the wrong idea.