I'm trying to get involved in more but has come to a cross roads.

Also, I'd be a little afraid to remodel one year, put it in service another year and count that as two years since that court case states holding for investment is not a qualifier.

If it looks like the license might get in the way in the future, I can always reconsider it.Aly,It has nothing to do with being full or part time.If you open your mouth you could be crossing the line if the other party has a property to sell.

That would leave me with a $20k profit, not counting closing costs, transfer tax, holding costs, etc.

To my knowledge my father did nothing but provide the funding and the friend built the place from the ground up and has done all property management since (about 25 years and counting). 

@David McBrayerThere are more ways to do this than I can count (i.e. have someone basically manage your portfolio for you).

It's income I can count on being direct deposited the beginning of every month.

Well, truth is it would have taken her 10 years for inflation to bring rents up to 1%.There is no need to do that, buy a 1%er now and sleep at night counting dollar signs instead of sheep.Your father is right. real estate is so good, you can suck at it and still come out fine at some point in the future but do the best you can and finish the game well.

My money remained invested so I used their free money.While most borrowers won't have large cash reserves, underwriting will look at a credit line and the ability to pay it off in full, so there is a point where debt becomes more irrelevant in a credit situation.Another point is debts with less than six months payments remaining, these payments generally won't be counted. 

The disadvantage is that it an utility pole on its side with electrical wires crossing the plot.