So all said & done there is a tremendous upside to using methods 4-19 versus 1-3, where you will be shoulder to shoulder with tonnes of newbies competing for pennies on the dollar. 

Good lord.I'd wager this title company has done this before and therefore, in the future, add a condition to each Offer to Purchase that you will not buy if the Seller orders title through the XYZ Title Company.Today, because I'm not very nice, I'd email the title company a response which includes (a) an admission that the title company wrongly removed the credits without your permission and (b) an apology with a guarantee that they will not to it again in the future.NEVER HAPPENS in Illinois because Buyers are represented by Attorneys and we would never tolerate a title company that takes orders unilaterally from the Sellers.Once the Buyer has signed the Alta Statement based on the figures attached to that signature, the title company simply cannot remove credits, which require that you to bring in more money to closing, without your permission.Good luck.    

I won a judgement of $2385 when I just asked her to replace the 1/2 tank oIL and give me November’s rent approx $1200 versus the $2385 judgement.

I think you need to factor in the financial value of house hacking versus renting and buying elsewhere.

This is versus doing the deal through our company as individuals with our own private sales contract forms.

@Bruce Crawford The answer here is going to be ... it depends1) You need to evaluate the market in Japan (versus one in US).

There's more room to increase rents and if you had a vacant unit, you'd only lose 25% of rental income versus 50% with the other property.

Full IRS regs related to rentals below: In determining whether a rental real estate activity is a section 162 trade or business, relevant factors might include, but are not limited to (i) the type of rented property (commercial real property versus residential property), (ii) the number of properties rented, (iii) the owner’s or the owner’s agents day-to-day involvement, (iv) the types and significance of any ancillary services provided under the lease, and (v) the terms of the lease (for example, a net lease versus a traditional lease and a short-term lease versus a long-term lease).Providing bright line rules on whether a rental real estate activity is a section 162 trade or business for purposes of section 199A is beyond the scope of these regulations.

Any thoughts on the pros/cons of investing on on our own more slowly but getting all the profits versus partnering with a trusted friend and buying more properties quicker but splitting the profits?

Having these two will give you a good idea of whether Buy & Hold is a good plan versus flip.