First Mortgage: 69KSecond Mortgage: 46KHome in good condition as of now: YESHome would sell for: 178-190K (with some work)Would you consider a deal like this to be good?

Have the Lease -Purchase document reference the Residential Lease for all specific lease terms and conditions.

A lawyer can advise.

I'm not saying you should retain a lawyer, just some legal advice.

Ya I couldn't agree more....Here's my list of reason for doing REI:1) You can never get fired so you have permanent job security2) You can work from home which has it's own huge set of advantages3) You can set your own schedule, wake up when you want and work as many or few hours as you want.4) You set your own pay5) You're often earning as much or more than high power doctors and lawyers.6) Once you have as little as 1 apartment building you likely have enough income to never have to work again if you don't want to.7) As you continue to acquire rental properties your month cash flow rapidly goes up into the five figure range and eventually even six figures.8) You can do a deal from almost anywhere in the world.

I had inspected this place and it seemed to be in decent condition except that the Heating/AC unit was completely dead.

The overall condition of the property is a 7/10 imhoThe market in my area seems to be flooded with 3 families for sale that barely "cash flow."

Once the market starts trending upwards you need to find the deals on the ones that still believe the market is going further down, and startgetting ready to liquidate because everything goes in cycles.I know that I kind of went off topic a little with this thread starting as an what was/is your excuse thread, and to summarize on that I believe that if someone still has an excuse why they shouldn't invest, I believe they shouldn't because no matter what the market conditions, their financial status, or anything else they have to have the mindset that they are going to do it and be able to succeed without it everything else is just a moot point.

What would be the best tax strategy for us as a partnership, is there one type of partnership that is more advantageous than others regarding taxes, and how do I hire a lawyer without all the retaining fees up front?

I find contractors, deals, appraisers, hardmoney lenders, mortgage brokers, real estate agents, lawyers, cpas, and most important of all -- other real estate investors.