My experiences in two different college towns have been that the towns make good places for REI, but college students do not usually make great tenants.

Unless the property is near a source of jobs or tenants (think colleges) you have an uphill battle to fill them.4.

I also utilized other free resources such as the local library, blogs, and free online classes.

It's refreshing to find an online community where most of the (active)members are so passionate about the subject at hand, and more than that, openly willing to discuss, and lend a hand to people who are at a disadvantage due to being new in the business.So thank you.

And by the time we're 50, we would own it free and clear (and before the kid goes off to $$$ college).

That said the tear down/build up of a mixed use would be new for me but it is in a market where I own 4 residentials now, a college town, and the small downtown area has had extremely good occupancy and high rent rates for many years, even during the market down swings.

I also found some online resources claiming to do it for $3500 and they set you up with a consultant, help with the marketing of your fund, and have a list of brokers who can help sell it as well.It might seem like overkill if you're just going to borrow money from you family/friends but if you want discretionary power and the ability to draw the funds quickly without getting a bunch of signatures from the investors, this is the way to go and still be covered.

Grew up in Baltimore, went to school at College Park, lived in Silver Spring/Rockville/Gaithersburg for several years after school.And may be moving back to the area in the next couple years

But go to college first.

They will do online notaries that are accepted in all 50 States.