I obviously need a larger buyers list.If there is anyone who is either experienced, new, or interested in this venture in the Bay Area, I would also love to talk more.

I have only occasionally ventured that way when searching new opportunities, but have never actually bought there.

There is a generally accepted risk/return curve where Real Estate is considered less risky than investing in Equities, and of course Large Cap Equities are less risky on average than investing in your own startup or a venture capital play.

We decide to meet him for negotiations on our business venture which also includes real estate.

You would probably have to venture into a hobby store to get the stuff though.

My question is, how do we go about funding our venture?

It allows you to be taxed as a qualified Joint Venture(Disregarded Entity).

The above could be adjusted slightly to work with buy/hold projects as well.If the projects are small to medium and under $1M, a simple Joint Venture Agreement could suffice (see legal advice).

Start local, learn the basics before venturing off into the great unknown.

David,While I respect your opinion not to invest in securities, I have to strongly disagree with your view on securities.Sure maybe I don't have hundreds of millions of dollars at the end of the day like an institutional investor does to invest and sure I probably am a flea on a dogs tail compared to the big boys and their venture capital but that does not matter one bit to me.