Treat your TEAM well... by that I mean when you find a great contractor treat them well, when you find a great property manager treat them well, when you have a great tenant treat them well.. you can still make money, but making a couple of dollars less because you treated someone well (bought them a gift, paid them a little more than charged, got them a new fridge or whatever) is well worth the long term investment in that relationship7.

@Alan Marentes   Probably the easiest way is to buy a property for yourself to live in as an owner occupied property. 

Might be good to check and see how they setup and structure things. eXp is basically Keller Williams in the cloud, patterning that model might be easiest.

@Joseph PothenThe IRS scrutinizes sales that are not arms-length transactions between family members.The 'sale' may be deemed partial gift / partial sale in the eyes of the IRS.Your father may be required to file a gift tax return.

What is easiest way to do this?

It is possible to remove your name from your current mortgage loan with your wife, but it isn't maybe the easiest or quickest thing to do.

He gifted us $25k towards the initial down payment, but we have paid for everything else (rest of down payment, payments on the loan, taxes, improvements, etc)We are now selling the house and expect a profit.

This will be the absolute cheapest and easiest way to get your foot in the door. 

Thanks for the book and the work you do on the podcast it’s a gift.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.