BTW, I've been approached by those I know in the world of academia to teach again, I'm leery as I know the commitment required and after all, I am retired, but, I might do something to kill the boredom......might mean less time on BP, so some could celebrate that.Now, I don't recall telling you that you were full of crap, if I did, you must have been (LOL) :)I can see where your brother was coming from, he was lucky to be in a family that was active in the industry he was interested in, I think too, that unless you're expecting to climb the corporate ladder, grad school won't help that much in RE investing, it didn't do that much for me.I'd love to have some BBQ with you!

One of the things we were told was that we should start off as either a LLC or S-corp (or maybe both depending on our strategy) sooner rather than later.

As for how best to structure the entity (S-Corporation versus LLC partnership), an S-Corp will probably be best for your partner, considering his whole source of income is from this activity.

Newbies often get all hung up on the following stuff: building a team, getting an entity, developing a marketing plan, setting up a website, designing a logo, choosing a company name, etc, etc, etc.  

He will be building plans and I would like to go to corporate establishments like Subway, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Bank of America, etc  to let them know we will build our store fronts to fit their requirements.What steps do you recommend I should to get these kind of tenants.

I am also planning on leaving the corporate world very soon. 

If I have a logo designed by myself and a tag line, should I have it trademarked so no one else can use it before I use on my website, business cards, etc.?  

Unless you are into masochism, eliminate the ones with mortgages encumbering more than half the current value in order to narrow your list to a manageable number.Determine current title and eliminate the corporate owners. 

E's and depreciation schedules (form 4562, I think) from the seller (or the equivalent forms if it's a partnership or corporate return).

It seems as though if not now soon the tax regulations for llc will require payment of self-employment tax.I think I can avoid this by setting up an "S" corporation for the entity that "holds" property.