Absolutely.Now, thankfully, I am not in that position anymore, and my portfolio has grown to sustain itself without my personal finances being involved. 

I know that there is risk because of the lack of paper trail, but could this also raise a red flag for the seller not wanting the banks to get involved?

I may be over thinking it, but it seems that becoming a RE Pro in the eyes of the IRS is in my best interest and I want to properly log everything and take advantage of everything I do RE related, if it counts towards those hours. 

My wife is a RE Agent and a new build in a different part of town in Dell Valle development (master planned community) has caught our eye.

Also be aware that in both exit plans you will need to be very ethical in your disclosures to all parties and there is some paperwork involved. 

There are upfront costs involved in your direct mail marketing and it takes a lot of time to learn how to do wholesaling the RIGHT way.

I have primarily been involved in mostly cash transactions, as well as a good amount of hard money closings. 

Now that we are coming up on 2 years 4 of the 5 people involved would like to sell.

It's happened to me a couple times - now I know to look out for it some areas or just wholetail so I don't get involved in any rehab at all and mitigate the risk.

It involves an installment sale without a 1031.