Well, you're right, haven't a clue as to Aussie investments.I assume you're getting rental income, I also assume you have independent property management in place.RE and corporate structures will be governed by state law where the entity is set up and where the property is located.

Thank you for the adviceNew York State has one"Rehabilitation of historic properties creditYou're entitled to this nonrefundable credit if you or your business:is allowed a federal credit under IRC section 47, for a structure located in New York State, andall or part of the rehabilitation project is either a targeted area residence within the meaning of IRC section 143(j), or is located within a census tract identified as being at or below 100% of the state median family income in the most recent federal censusHow much is the credit?

This is such a LOADED question, but I'll to provide a sample of what you may need to do.1. get an attorney, most definitely should be step one in your process, as they will be able to help discuss the most detailed specifics of your situation.2. understand collection laws (FCDPA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, TCPA, FTC, FCRA, etc.) these are federal level; however, you'll also need to understand how collection laws operate on a state level because some states have their own laws that may supersede those on a federal level.

As for the seller, unless both of you can come to agreement, he/she usually does not have much choice but  follow suit.Suppose after the first or second installment payment, the seller "elect-out" and went ahead report the entire gain, which is less possible since the tax involved here would be higher, but then you'll know you did what you're supposed to in tax compliance and owes nothing to the State.On the federal level, the buyer has a lot more pencil work to do. 

Those  offering LLC set ups and trust stuff use the liability as a marketing aspect and generally aren't the whole story.Your accountant may or may not be correct, RE is governed first by local custom, he/she may see that as being acceptable, or it could be an accountant giving legal advice......ask your attorney.You can not obtain a secondary market loan in the name of a business.Switching names in title is a violation of the due on sale, the lender may or may not kick about it. 

If you are interested in property battles with the government and constitutional issues surrounding takings, I just published an article about a recent California case involving the Coastal Commission: California Court of Appeal Holds that Required Coastal Easement Dedication is an Unconstitutional Taking - See more at: http://www.businessjustice.com/california-court-of...

I am a retired federal employee and my income isn't that great but I get by.  

I was initially reaching out to hear if anyone had anything the knew of that would be unusual since it was with a family member.A quick update: Accountant stated that as long as we treat it as a a loan and follow the IRS's AFR (applicable federal rate) as our interest rate and have that documented in the agreement of the loan, we should be OK from a tax perspective.

Also - I've seen a dozen or so investors buy properties on them with SIZABLE federal tax liens, something I'm pretty careful at looking into before I bid on a house.  

Navy Federal did HELOCS at 70%.