That said, should we put our real estate investment in my name or hers?

If the cosigner/guarantor owns real estate for example, any unpaid judgement will become a lien on that property and raise the odds significantly for eventually getting paid.If the cosigner/guarantor doesn't have assets like real estate to go after all they are offering you is a promise and last I checked you can't cash a promise!

For Middletown Ct that is quite a market value increase year over year.

It probably depends on the specific market and the supply and demand in that market.

I have nothing to sell, am not doing marketing and not counting threads. 

You might try apartments.com, Trulia, Homes.com, Redfin,  From a Real Estate Broker Perspective, Zillow generates 80% of all traffic at this point in time.

I did speak to a real estate attorney, and his recommendation was just have the property LLCs and operate out of them property wise/independently.   

I would get a really good real estate attorney to form up the contract up if you want to get seller-finance going for your place.

Grand Rapids is a pretty robust market currently. 

Is there any suggestions you guys recommend me to read about raising capital for real estate?