As a Spark investor, you are effectively paying double fees (Rise48's and Spark's) and then the cash flow coming from Rise48 is stripping 30% off for their carry, and of the remaining, Spark is stripping another 20% for their carry.  

My parents want to help us pay for it and we pay them back on interest.

I am curious about how you've come to only trust your brother? 

I was wondering what is the best way to screen future tenants if I don't want to pay for a monthly subscription like tenant cloud or rentredi? 

I am a  lender but do not report to credit agencies does that mean the borrower does not have an obligation to pay me back?

He has an ITIN and pays taxes. 

I would much rather pay tax on just the interest income rather than on a distribution of that amount, that I've already previously paid income tax on.But, when getting funding for deals, from either hard money lenders or other lenders, will having that loan on the books create a roadblock that could make getting funding more difficult, potentially costing me deals?

The house was appraised at 450k and we’d be paying her sister 200k.

The key is having a trusted team on the ground that can help you through the process.

So if I liquidate money from my business credit cards and open a forex brokerage account and pay for a trading bot, is the money i use to pay back the credit cards and trading bot taxable?