After we retire and gain access to our 401ks, the passive syndication experience gained to date gives us confidence that we'll be able to manage our money much better ourselves than were we to leave it in the hands of a financial planner who would have it in stocks and bonds.Before diving in headfirst to actively managing a lot of units, I would recommend starting small, perhaps with a 4 plex like your friends own, and then scaling up from there. 

In advance, I thank you all and am looking forward to diving into the real estate business.

I am planning on filing them together this year but the deal sounds pretty good and I just want to dive in already. 

With that said you need to evaluate safety, performance, cost and future needs before diving in.

Perhaps you ought to contact a broker for a broker's price opinion (BPO) to get a preliminary assessment as to the value of the property before you dive in with an appraiser's cost and the cost of appealing the county assessment.

If when their current lease terms expire there is no reason you'd ever want to change them to a no pet policy this deep into the game.

Of course that's a shady area I don't care to dive into here, but it is what it is and if all else fails, there's always getting off our butts, out from behind our computers and going down to the courthouse and digging through the many, many records of property information.

Think win/win with a seller that is willing to do a deep discount for cash and you have cash, or a seller that wants income long term and doen't need much down and you don't have much down.If you can meet his needs chances are better he can meet yours.

Take a deep breath and move forward.

Its very frustrating sometimes, I want to get my apples in a bunch before I go diving in and make sure I know what I'm doing and have my resources in line.