Real-estate investment is a capital-intensive investment.

There are several reasons people do this: they may not have enough capital to buy the full amount, they have the capital but want to spread it across more then one loan to diversify, It may be a newer note and they want to keep their investment to value ration low (ITV), they may be building a laddered maturity and want a specific duration so they have something closing out each year. they may not be sure they want to invest in notes and want to "test drive" one without buying 10 or 20 years of payments, or they may be a newer investor or busy professional that wants to have someone more seasoned with an interest in the out years who can step in an manage things if the borrowed runs into difficulty.For example we have a note in Indiana with 6 years of payments left on it and had a friend that had money sitting in a checking account earning almost zero.  

Test yourself.

Chris thank you for your input, i really appreciate it. this will def be a good test of mettle for my first deal. i will heed your advice and proceed with caution.

Certain family members would also need to be included in this 50% test.

In fact, that would be a good test;  have a few wholesalers and brokers send you deals and decide which are giving you better opportunities and which stay in the business.  

With a solid base I am able to take on more profitable and labor intensive new projects since I will have the time to focus on them. 

Anyway it feels good to feel like a mover and shaker again and I just finished my real estate class and am taking my test to be an agent at the end of the month.  

I am a building science nerd and this house was a testing ground of sorts.

Good luck with your test!