You will end up with a team of your two friends and you will be busy working your regular job.

if one regularly comes home late, that person can park in the assigned spot and the person who gets home during the day on the street.

He knows all the ropes about how to do a transaction, but since he uses his license as part of his consulting job, he's not in the trenches like a regular agent.

Talk with a mortgage broker that understands rent properties before you go down the HELOC route.  

Since they work in the business on a regular basis, they may be able to give you some tips and perhaps refer a few lenders to you. 

From what I understand, to have my rentals considered a business instead of passive activity it would need to be shown that I regularly work for/at the properties.

Ok, here’s what I’m trying to figure out.As a first time real estate investor, I understand what’s available in term of funding the purchase, for the most part.If we go the hard money/ private lender route, we’ll need to refi after the 1-year balloon, which is what I’ve been told are the terms from the lenders.If I’m doing short term rentals, my conventional lender is telling me I need to wait 2 years to be able to use the income.Any ideas out there on how to refi at the 1-year mark for the balloon payment if you can’t use the income yet?

Jordan I don't mean to hack your post but I am in the same dilemma trying to figure out which route to choose. 

Send it regular mail.

So I’m buying a property from somebody off of zillow, and to be honest, I would like to ask the seller questions, but I’m not sure what the best route to do that is.