But I'm assuming that we can write the origination costs off as a "rental business expense" as it will be used to engage in rental real estate practices. 

Its going to be much more interesting and will whet his appetite into wanting to put it into practice.

I'll use my expertise and my funds, and we will both profit."

Hi Iris,Selling a property to a bigger wholesaler is common practice.  

They have resources for areas that they not have expertise.

I haven't done any real deals yet but have been using it to practice with pro formas so I can better understand the numbers.

So a lot of people are telling me that a great way to start investing and practice land lording is to own a duplex and rent the other half out but people are making it seem like you can get free rent out of doing so...

I'm aware that other brokers make similar deals, so you need to check on recourse agreements to ensure a broker can buy back a note, I'd say PPR can simply because I've not heard a bad word about them or Dave, my comment is more to the practice of substation of notes as well as notes with agreements for the substitution of collateral; collateral should never be substituted without consent on an investor or holder.I'm pretty sure Dave or PPR will assist in securing collateral, that may not mean they cover the costs of a trustee or sale, don't know, but I've not heard of no risk investing in notes. :) 

I don't think we have an expertise in looking at real property and coming up with super nice finishes which attempt to push the maximum of the neighborhood values.

Perhaps transactional funding will work in this situation, but you need a high level of expertise if you are dealing  with this situation.