Their solution was for me to take over ownership of not one but five homes from Jeff's portfolio, all of which I had sold him and subsequently leased.Despite my being patently unfinanceable, the bank president placed a bet on me because I knew the homes, I knew the tenants, I knew what I was doing, and I was rabidly hungry.

The seller will always retain the equity and would receive annual distributions - and could structure the agreement with an exit strategy that makes them comfortable. 

Are there specific qualities or terms you look for that make the relationship a good fit for your investment strategy?

A person can make "big returns" in any/every strategy in existence, as well as making "big losses" and everywhere in between. 

If transferring the property to an LLC, be mindful of the due-on-sale clause, and note that an LLC itself does not offer tax savings unless electing S-Corp status, which is rare for rentals.To maximize tax benefits, consider cost segregation, bonus depreciation, and short-term rental (STR) strategies, which could allow you to offset W-2 income if structured properly.

If not, I would advise researching this strategy.

Great tools that get updated regularly.I am on the lending side of things and would be happy to hop on a call with you anytime to discuss financial strategies and help answer any questions you may have about nearly any loan product available to help you on your journey, even if they are not products my capital partners offer.We are all here to help you learn and grow.

I'm a 2x house hacker here in LA (a case study in the BP book The House Hacking Strategy) and an out of state investor.

What strategies or lessons did you learn along the way?

You can look into different strategies in the forums.