Again, your attorney (experienced in REI, not just a RE transaction attorney) is your best advisor.If all of your partners are both investors and GPs, then a JV should be sufficient.Money spent on professional advisors, whether attorneys, CPAs, etc. is well spent and will improve your returns and reduce potential headaches in the future.It also looks like you have a bridge loan on this property which, given this market, could be an issue at year 3. 

If you have no skill in #1 and #3, or if you have a busy career earning a good W2, then you should stay within your lane and just be a passive landlord, but accordingly, you need to adjust your expectation.

The rest of the year had reduced occupancy and reduced rates.  

When I look at this - my biggest kick in the gut is the commission piece on exit, so I am getting my license renewed to reduce that - but I think the questions above still warrant discussion.Appreciate the feedback in advance!

That number was traditionally at 10% to 14%, so in many cases banks have had to reduce that type of lending by a full 50%.Pile on top of that the fact that in the mortgage biz, revenue comes from the loan sizes, while expenses come from the number of loans.

Read section 21 of the CA Residential Purchase Agreement (assuming you transacting on this document).I've not been through mediation or arbitration myself, but if the buyer removed all contingencies when he submitted the offer, then cancelled, AND you suffered actual damages (a subsequently reduced sale price), your case seems pretty iron-clad to me.I believe you can enter mediation and arbitration without a lawyer, so I say go for it!

I guess to earn post numbers  IE lots of post  = lots of credibility on this site. 

I think one of them would be a Subject To agreement from your brother to an LLC/partnership that you and your brother create that would allow the loan to stay in his name but the LLC would operate the property and earn the cash flow. 

You'll be surprised what some Sellers will accept in exchange for reduced taxes and a steady income;2.

.- Niche Knowledge: (STR rules, ADU's, Zoning Expertise, down payment assistance programs, AFH, Opportunity Zones, etc)- Discounting: (If you are new you could always discount your services to add value (reduced commission for brokers, lower management fee, reduced fees for JV's).- Superior Service: Somewhat counterintuitively you can actually add more value despite being new.