The best (IMHO)you can do is seek out a tax and wealth advisor that you can work with so they can better understand your long term preferences as it relates to your estate and then give you advice on sustainable income into retirement (passive and/or retirement accounts), charitable preferences and heirs, if applicable.

I know what the qualifications are to be a real estate professional, but I've read that an election may need to made so that I can treat all my rental activities as one activity so that my hours claimed are considered for all my properties versus needing to prove I spent enough hours for each individual property.  

Prefer someone in Chicago.Any help is appreciated! 

This creates a taxable event for the individual leaving which they are planning on anyway. 

Preferably ones that have legitimate ARV numbers and have legitimately good fair deals.

@Matthew Paul  Any reason why you prefer septic tanks? 

Families need a place to live and most prefer to live indoors.  

I think I prefer the latter, as I'm focused on preparing retirement income, but this digresses towards an entire different topic :)Regardless, this does answer my question.

You and your other investors can avoid the 1065 filing requirement and just split income and expenses on your schedule E(s) for your individual return(s).You may have very good reasons for forming a partnership.

(haven't yet)Pets and smoking are your personal preference, and depend on your location and target market.