We were on the same page about the most important stuff like money, family, spending.

Unfortunately many people live their lives spending all of their money and not saving for their older years and then realize they have nothing to retire on.

I've been wanting to do this. I would prefer raising money thorugh debt, but am now thinking it's probably more realistic that someone is going to want equity in the building (I think I prefer hotels over anything els...

Make sure that your travel records are in good shape.You will make a major mistake if you wait until after the initial interview to learn the rules.The hours you spend as an investor reading reports and otherwise monitoring operations does not count for material participation purposes UNLESS you are directly involved in day-to-day management or operations.The IRS has learned that taxpayers seldom study the rules until after the initial interview, meaning that poorly informed taxpayers admit much in the first interview and then pathetically try to change their stories after they learn the rules (this is usually too little, too late).Goal here is to educate you, not overwhelm you.

Of course appreciation is never guranteed and at times it can go backwards, but if you look at a 30 year timeframe it becomes a bit more predictable.Think of it this way: when you buy a new house, you should have 30-40 years before you have to start spending (capex) money on it.

Otherwise, you may spend a lot of time waiting for the approval.

Private lending?

As far as determining if an area is "safe", for me it is less about statistics and more about spending time on the ground and getting a sense for it.  

Also the yard was being used as parking space...some tenants are ok with that, many are not (then it would be on street parking only if we changed it...some want the private parking space...depends on tenant).

@Nicholas Aiola, @Natalie Kolodij, @Ashish Acharya, @Basit Siddiqi, @Linda WeygantThis one's scurrying around in my brain and you know I'm going to hit you guys up privately to discuss this!