Securities regulation compliance, transparency, investor vetting, professional competition from well financed competitors to name a few.  

If I find private money for the purchase, I would need a partner for the rehab or downpayment... how would you structure a deal like this?  

For Sale by owner, Sales Agreements.I’m curious to learn what clauses or protections others builds into their sales agreements to ensure (or allow for legal action) if a private seller sells their property to someone else / backs out of your deal once already under contract.Fortunately this has never happened to me and the last 6 properties I bought were from private sellers without a real estate agent or attorney, however It could and likely will happen at some point...

It is funny that we are all IT professionals looking for an out by becoming a REI.  

I recently obtained my PE (Professional Engineering) license and I was wondering if there are any PE's out there who were able to leverage their license for real estate investing.I would love to hear any thoughts on this.

@Jeff Burdick, thanks for responding, I would love to connect, I am really passionate about getting in REI, and I would like to start my first deal Right now, I am not an expert nor professional but I have gathered and learned so much that I feel confident diving in, AND I can learn more and more as I swim in deeper

Try short term owner financing #1, #2 Private Money to close #3 Hard Money.The fact you put $ into the deal before closing is not a good sign but eh- it happens.

When using private money for investing in a buy and hold property how is the deal structures typically?

So you're a civil engineer, what's the going rate per hour in your fieldOn a side note, I think I'm going to stay clear of an SBA loan and get some good old regular financing on the property (cause I can buy it on my own) then bring in some private equity to design and build it out.

@Jeremy Roberts - I’d recommend either expanding your holdings or deversify by becoming the private capital for someone else.