If you are not a professional then you can only deduct this from your passive income (income from bonds, sale of stock, CD's, etc.).

My experience has been that they have not.One could argue that this proprietor is actually offering a type insurance policy or performance bond.

I think bonded warehouses or just spaces that could be used for distribution or light industrial are good from a macro perspective.

When the real estate market strengthened in the early 2000s, homeowners gained a large amount of capital from their homes.

I would be able to live off the monthly rents.I know there are risks, and there is work involved, but all in all, the risks seem less and the dividends greater than securities investing (even with REITs), the work (and risks) seem less than starting other kinds of businesses, and the returns are definitely greater than with a guaranteed interest product like a treasury bond or CD.Also, in my experience, every landlord I know who owned houses and rented out rooms, continued to make money throughout the recession.

Once I have more cash and experience (5 years or so) I'd like to go into commercial real estate and property development.I'm taking the remaining amount of cash and applying it to stocks and bonds.

The seller offered to pay for the cost of a redemption bond, but I am wondering how I would be impacted in the rare case that this property is redeemed?

Be sure to check references, go see jobs they've done, check licenses and bonds.

Low R&M on their P&L might strengthen their bottom line but could be an indication you'll have to spend even more $$ to catch up on deferred maintenance.

I've previously completed a small hard money load to a local multi-family developer for a property that ended up selling the land before developing and then a personally guaranteed business loan to the developer to help them bond a lien situation that resulted in litigation against the contractor for breach of contract.