I'm setting up two LLCs with one for the flips and one for the rental properties.The flips will be an S-Corp exactly as you said to try and make room for some of that income to be taxed at a lower level.Having the separate LLCs is necessary not only for legal protection, but to keep the accounting separate.

Buying as a primary residence gives you a lower interest rate, lower insurance and starts building up credit and home equity that you can borrow on later. 

It is truly remarkable the amount of frugal muscles I have developed.Thank you too @Mindy Jensen for having guests and helping spread the word of financial independence.Not all heroes wear capes, some have podcasts! 

Account ClosedWhen applying for a loan, lenders will use the lower score between the two.If your brother's credit and income is truly bad, it's not worth taking the risk.There are other considerations.

However the monthly payments are still considerably lower than what I can afford, and I am also largely financially independent at this point in life.I scrimped and saved til about age 37....now I spend pretty freely as even doing so I have much more coming in than going out.

Does anyone here have any experience with proerties in rough neighborhoods? They obviously have the cheapest housing, but obviously less desirable tenants for the most part. Wondering if the damage and late/no pay is ...

Also, attend local REI meetups so you can find partners who may be willing to do the leg work.

You will likely get a lot of high bids, but eventually you should come across someone that has a bid significantly lower than the average retail contractor and can show you examples of their work. 

Long term commercial debt lenders make adjustments but does not generally follow that.For high quality assets i am currently seeing about 4.8 percent for 10 year debt. 5 year fixed I am seeing about 4.5%.If a life insurance company they can go lower on rates but want minimum 35% down and more picky on the properties to lend on.Seller financing can be great BUT just remember to not way overpay for an asset just to get that.

I am considering going the 5/1 ARM route and put the savings from taxes and the lower payment towards the principle of the home.