However you've collected your fee since its easy to direct buyers how to buy the homes in markets where there's no barriers and hundreds are available at any given time, and the buyer feels like they accomplished something despite sitting on real estate that will never generate real gains. 

I am an Enrolled Agent licensed by the IRS and specialize in real estate taxation.  

At this point when I start podcast if it’s not David Greene talking I stop and find another real estate podcast.   

Full time flight nurse and pay/schedule is allowing me to dabble in the world of real estate.  

If, however, that means you own more real estate in locations that you like, you get the magic of leverage + appreciation that results in a better long term return. 

Owning real estate is basically the same as being in the service industry and sometimes the end of a lease isn’t going to coincide with the best dates for a landlord to rent.

That property is literally screwed.The real answer to your questions is it depends on what is common and accepted in that area.

Running a real estate business together with your gf has many non-tax consequences.

As you get further away from standard real estate practice, the risk is increased by a “legal” risk that your protection may be interpreted quite differently than you expect by a court and that the subtleties of the protection a mortgage or trust deed document provide with established law and court decisions handed down for (in the U.S.) 250+ years is not existent. 

I'm a Bank on Yourself professional and personally have my own policies that I use to fund my real estate investments.