My brother and I have been investing for three years now and have 5 properties and 7 units with about 250k in equity.

Well selling on terms entails, if you don't know, some going to rent to own arrangement, or rent them purchase arrangement, or some kind of subject to existing financing, or some kind of wraparound mortgage.So for us in equity, you going to basically look at everything, the condition, with the sellers need, the urgency for the sellers, existing financing, their comfort level with the due on sale clause with such two in the wrapper on my goods, the lease to own, etc.To ease for you to profit with no equity deal on the following:One is you can lease with an option and then assign the deal for a fee.

Having 20 unique trusts supports that 1 egg, 1 basket notion which, in the event a lawyer finds that XYZ Trust owns the property, he will see you only have $10k in equity (vs $400k, $1 Mil, etc that you may have in your portfolio) and decide it is not enough to go to court over (and in the event that you do go to court, you have limited your losses to 1 property).

Your cash-flow would be about break-even, but you would be banking 15k/mo in equity on the above example.

This includes monetary benefits such as increases in equity, increased cashflow, decrease in taxes, and potentially increasing property values through appreciation.

In addition, installing a solar system creates immediate tax advantages for the owner, along with an immediate increase in equity and it increases the desirability of the rental.  

I view it as it all ebbs and flows, 4 weeks ago I was celebrating a huge bump in equity at a refinance and a reduction in mortgage payments, another mortgage payment lowered significantly which increase my cash flow on a different property and going under contract for a 12 unit townhouse complex...I try to take the bad in stride, and not take the good for granted. 

So... if I want 1.2m in passive income (I'm a 10x kind of guy) I need to work hard to earn $10,000,000 (1.2m divided by 12%) in equity.

This doesn't even include the built in equity I was able to secure for us, by buying it at such a great price!

It would be in equity on the property but still....