So leaving them real estate doesn’t seem to be an option. 

My main concern is how to truly spot a deal.

They are concerned about the taxes the IRS charges foreigners on income.

If you sold at a 7 cap with 105,000 NOI that is about 1,500,000 evaluation taking away closing costs and commissions about 1.4 and then take away maybe 75k for renovations leaves 1,325,000 so about 225k gross profit.

My main concern beyond finding a good property at a good price is finding a team to manage it for me.

Developers have sometimes paid ridiculous premiums to buy a patch of land due to unforeseen concerns.

We're basically wanting to learn the ropes to serve ourselves when purchasing properties but would also like to be qualified enough to help friends out if they too are in need of purchasing property.Our big concern is that getting licensed will require my wife to have to work in an office setting for a certain period of time, which currently with the children is not an option.  

I would like to feel like I knew what I was getting into if I did use private or hard money" - Very High interest rates, usually not as much concern for personal credit score etc (this will vary between lenders) and more looking into property and experience."

Or should we leave it all in a separate savings account for emergencies?

@Shawn Trudeau , I'm concerned about this conversation being via text.