On all my other deals I have never used a bird dog, so I do not know what's appropriate. no idea what is appropriate for bird dog but for a buy and hold or any transaction really 1 to 2k.. and then take that and pay them monthly over 36 months.. and then tell them to go find 20 more.. you have the opportunity here on BP to listen to those with a lot of experience at this and I cant stress enough that minor partners are trouble.. it never works out.. and they will think it was all them and you could have never done it without them.. pay them for what they did but DO NOT put them on title or a member of your LLC.. this mistake cost me a few hundred grand over the last 30 years.. even I can learn from my booboos  but I did not have BP to ask should I have minor partners sounded good at the time.. but then they have an interest and they can then exercise that interest and usually blackmail you into more than you really owe them.. 

It was the most stressful, mind numbing work i have ever done, as i struggled to find one single aspect of the job i enjoyed doing.

Their is definitely a lot of activity with owner occupants purchasing.

I have an RE agent license even though I don’t work actively as an agent, hence I know what overall prices are in the neighborhood.

If you and your wife file a joint return then from the federal perspective you and she (or rather the tax return that reports the activity of the properties - all of them both from during your marriage and before your marriage) are one and the same tax payer.

We are from out of state, so our agent will need to be actively involved in our due diligence process.  

If you take SD, you dont itemize, but the expense related to rental activity has nothing to do with itemize deduction.Your rental income is taxed if you have net rental income. ( Rents- expenses- depreciation). 

Plenty of activity in South Shore today. 

@Barbara Hlavaty I think first of all, you have to figure out for yourself whether you want to be active with this next investment or passive?!

For example, while you could use such accounts to purchase real estate, you could not transfer any real estate that is owned by yourself, spouse, parents, children into the tax-advantaged account.There are also some instances in which such accounts can be taxed, such as when investing in an active business or when using leverage.For a list of companies compiled by BiggerPockets, see: Self-Directed CompaniesFor more compliance and strategy, see: The Self-Directed Investor