Good Afternoon Everyone, my name is Jon Boothe, my wife Mary and I are in The UPS Store business and are looking to expand by purchasing/building real estate building with a minimum of 2 spaces.

I am a union carpenter and have small construction side business. 

If the houses look run down, not kept up, it's most likely not Class A  and look at what's surrounding the neighborhood as far as types of businesses (check cashing, bars on their windows).Bay Area (it can be neighborhood by neighborhood and street by street) I don't know the Peninsula well but expensive Palo Alto would be Class A to me:Class A: Orinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Danville, Dublin, Pleasanton, maybe parts of Pleasant Hill and Concord, parts of  Pinole?

I made 120k in equity last year with the sale of the houses but because of how stupidly our business was set up, Our tax guy suggested my partners give me most of my equity as a gift because we didn't want to get taxed on it twice.

Additionally, If anyone would be willing to have a conversation about what they look for in CPA's and what they learned financially starting in the rental investing business I would greatly appreciate it! 

Interest is just the cost of business. 

Property loan or business loan, or both?

When should I form this partnship and open a business bank account to pool capital?

You could just hire him to build; the PM piece shouldn't be tied to the JV - they get the business if they do a good job and it should be equitable fee's for the area. 

Like any service based business, you're going to encounter a variety of types of fee structures.