I am more interested in investing, beginning with fix and flips also buy and holds once I’m established to create passive income.

The biggest WHY is to hopefully have multiple streams of income through cash flow, in order to gain financial independence, to not have to work a 9 to 5.

Newbie here from Houston, Texas.I am looking to invest after gaining experience with rehabbing my home after Hurricane Harvey.

Ultimately though, my end goal is to acquire enough properties so that my passive income is enough to enjoy a modest life and quit my job.Thoughts?

Since you've lived in the property for >2 years, your capital gains are tax free when you sell. 

Investing in real estate is a great option to gain appreciation and rental income for retirement.

I really do like the idea of syndication, and am trying to gain confidence in vetting equity deals. 

That might mean a large tax write-off IF the owner is a real estate professional (otherwise passive loss rules apply).Since your brother owns another business it is doubtful that he would be able to qualify as a real estate professional, but if he is married his spouse might. 

So again, we are using a business practice that works which is limited by how much it can scale, and that once again puts a hard cap on how many units we can run successfully and how passive this business can really be for us.

Hi there,I am selling a rental property (H1) and would like to avoid paying capital gains.