You are already at an advantage by having partners who you can rely on and trust as you grow your business.

When it sells it will likely also be the closure of my business, and so I will be relying initially almost entirely on the rent that I would generate from whatever I end up with in my 1031 exchange, so income versus other ways to gain in real estate is my initial priority.In thinking about it and looking at options and poking around for the last couple of years, I am strongly leaning towards multi-family.

If your 'silent partners' have 1. invested money 2. been given a promise or an expectation for a return 3. are relying wholly on someone else’s efforts in the business (i.e. you)... then the SEC considers them investors and this is going to be regulated by securities law.As to how to structure it, if you're going to be finding the deal and managing everything then you can do something as simple as provide yourself 20% of the deal.

There are some commonly used strategies (with varying success)  to limit sound transfer.

@Aaron Klein The areas you should focus on will vary depending on what your immediate and long-term plans are.  

After all due diligence checks out which he does himself not relying on others opinion,  he writes a check for 25MM buys a commercial building.  

How assessors work varies by area.Taxes can go up and it is part of due diligence.

With rehab costs, prices vary depending on area for both materials and labor.  

I'm sure that varies with city and inspectors.  

As just a few small examples:You can "flip" a stock that is undervalued (except instead of hiring contractors to improve the property, you're relying on your assessment of management's ability to do so).