Most importantly, it'll help keep you motivated when you're struggling to find deals.Peoria is actually a decent market for rentals though.

Can I legally start a rental without some sort of license???

If not, you could ask the other girl for an offer letter of some sort stating what she will be making.

Seller is motivated, and has to sell a portfolio of properties -- 24 units (six deeds, 4-unit properties)Transaction 1: Have the seller deed you 2 properties (8 units) free and clear, then get a lender to give you a loan on 75% of those 8 units.

The tax sale for 2013 starts at the beginning of August, so those sellers might be more motivated.

If I do another mentor program I will be fine with splitting deals- I think then everyone is equally motivated to help and get the deals done.

Hello Iris,One of the biggest issues I have when training our VA's is letting them know that I don't know how to convert unmotivated sellers to motivated. 

How many letters sent -> how many people called -> how many were interested in showing you their house -> how many you got under contract, etc.Let's say you send out 2000 -> 60 calls -> saw 5 houses -> 1 under contract.So if you're getting a lot of people asking you what your offer is, you're still in that phase where you're having to filter out the motivated ones from the unmotivated ones. 

I'm looking to own some sort of cabin as a vacation rental out that direction (maybe North Tahoe) in a few years or so.

The first one's going to be a house hack of some sort.