I called around and they all confirmed that it is possible to do subject to deals as long as the bank is not involved.

My lack of understanding involves the "applicable exclusion amount for gifts" from the above article, and maybe we're misunderstanding the annual gift exclusion as well. 

We will be doing a lot more reading and hopefully pull the trigger on our first deal in the near future.Thanks for the warm welcome and we look forward to getting more involved in the forums!

Also if you haven't gotten involved in the greater Baltimore REI community yet you should, there are a lot of great people out there who want to help as well.  

Wow, I didn't realize the field that said ""Involved In Real Estate from Cape Coral, Florida"Would be where my profession is supposed to be.  

I would like to be heavily involved, mainly so that I can learn the business and gain experience. 

If he is more involved or engages in the activity with regularity it would be treated accordingly as self employment Which could be a good thing from a tax planning standpoint.

Unfortunately, options involving little or no money down are far and few between.

If your looking toanage it yourself it is a lot different and more worm than a typical investment property.Also since they rely strongly on reputation and word of mouth, they had to be heavily involved as the help/workers typically are not paid well and need to be trained to build your brand

While I trust the joint venture partner, I would like to have them sign an agreement stating they won't solicit the lender for other flips without me being involved in the deal.