I had a home built by a local builder a few years ago and have been interested in getting into being an investor for a home builder.While I believe a typical arrangement is a profit sharing type of arrangement, I had a few questions:1.

They get the same security deposit. 

After paying closing costs, title fees, appraisal, origination, underwriting, processing, legal and other fees, the typical refinance costs about 1.75 - 2.5% of the loan amount just in closing costs (obviously before people yell at me, this varies drastically by state, but having done loans all over the country I find this to be a pretty accurate estimate).  2) Keeping the average 2% cost in mind and the fact that people typically refinance when rates drop about .75% - 1% or more, I wanted to see if paying an extra point now when I was already paying all the closing costs to buy the rate down made sense. 1 point can get you between .5% - .625% off the rate depending on the days pricing and the coupon you are pricing. 

Entity structure wise, I'm getting conflicting opinions from lawyers/tax advisors on which scenario gives me the best separation between properties and asset protection from rental activities:1.

I do try to get those 1-2% down, but what advice do you have for either avoiding EMD, or having end buyers, laying that EMD.

I would call the concerned parties and make sure you gather paper trail.. call the credit bureaus, they will give the advise you will need to get the flag removed

I've found that when you push back using a logical argument based on evidence, you tend to get blank stares.

In today's market I wouldn't touch one unless you can get 8%.  

Real estate is such an exciting field to get into.

Also, do the aggregate losses above any W2 income get carried over to the following year?