Do you have 1031 money?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/1031-exchange-a-cheri...A much-loved tax advantage in the commercial real-estate industry is on the chopping block even as chances dim for the passage of a broad federal tax overhaul this year.Why?

A bird dog looks for motivated sellers or undervalued properties with the intention of passing the deal on to a real estate investor in exchange for a percentage or fee.

If not, I'd be willing to help an experienced investor do some book keeping or other errands in exchange for letting me be by their side for some deals that they close just so I get some experience with buying properties.

By then you’ll have enough equity to consolidate loans or start doing 1031’s or talk to your banker.

A 1031 is not a good option but that would require a passionate phone call about.

I am not looking to buy in at too much equity initially (5-10% down) and possibly sell or 1031 exchange after some years.

Be honest and rate yourself from 1-10... if you're a 10 in marketing but a 4 in sales, instead of losing deals and higher spreads to "learn the ropes", you can max out on what you're good at, bring that value to the table and find a 10 in sales.This goes with everything among the business...We realized we sucked at initial calls so instead of getting better, we focused on hiring the best at initial calls, and this was one of our best hires. we went from 10 deals/month to 20 deals/ month almost by the next month after the hire.We did this again on the title side, and it freed up our work load to almost half it's size.Moral of the story provide value with what you are good at, value exchange and partner with someone, or hire people to fill the spots you aren't optimal in.Doing so allowed me to create a virtual wholesale system in other cities (right now we are looking for the best wholesalers in San Antonio to expand to also) by providing my value: prescreened high quality leads, to good wholesalers... we split 50/50 they get leads ready to sign, I take on the marketing and screening, they create the bigger spread than I could, I cover marketing costs, they get 50% equity split on leads that were free to them... that's a win-win-win... allowing us to expand to as many deals/month the experienced wholesaler can handle.

If your ok with that payout in exchange for the increase cashflow, then go for it. 

The basis of the original investment is increased by 10% if the investment in the qualified opportunity zone fund is held by the taxpayer for at least 5 years, and by an additional 5% if held for at least 7 years, excluding up to 15% of the original gain from taxation.A permanent exclusion from taxable income of capital gains from the sale or exchange of an investment in a qualified opportunity zone fund, if the investment is held for at least 10 years.