Yes, there is ways to decrease your salary by making 401k contributions or pre-tax employer cafeteria plans.However, 100,000 of cash-flow from rental activities is very ambiguous as we have no idea what portion of that is taxable.

I don't understand what the benefit of that would be, unless she's financially contributing and worried that she wouldn't have anything if there's a split, or if you mean that you can use her as another mortgage, in effect.

I model my business as come from contribution.

@John HeeneyIf you're a solo business owner, you maybe eligible for solo 401k that allows for much higher contribution.

When you Joint Venture you have to consider mortgages, payments, risk, taxes, exit strategy, contributions (money, labor, expertise) and trustworthiness.

You might want to structure the deal differently but however you do it I think they want you to contribute some cash.

For some accounts such as Roth which have contribution limits its difficult to build up enough to purchase notes. 

I'm sure showing it during winter months contributed to this as well.

I have stable income, but my goal is to use the BRRRR strategy to leverage equity/forced appreciation rather than constantly saving and contributing my own cash to deals.After shopping the best rates, I applied for a HELOC against my first rental property, with the goal of pulling 30k-ish out to use to jumpstart my next deal.

My day job is in affordable housing, so I love hearing stories about landlords contributing affordable, QUALITY housing to an area.