Best Use Of New Condo?

great site - i have already learned so much! my friend in LA is buying a condo in an up and coming redevelopment are in a great loft building - the price locked in is already 10% less than the valuation (300k unit now sells for 330k) - move is is in june now the question - she wants to buy 50% and wants two partners each to buy 25% neither she nor i own property currently - the third partner owns a home already if our goal is to either simply make a profit off this one in a year or two OR use its increase in value to refinance and fund other properties what is best: rental or one of us living there? mortgage would be about 1200/month - HOA is $300 - in the area a unit like this goes for about $2500/month rental (and this one has a heated pool on the roof to boot overlooking downtown!) the third partner is high salary but the other two are very low salary so do we take the rental income - let it increase and sell within one to two years or do we owner occupy and just take the increase after two years i imagine we structure as an LLC or trust as well ... thanks for any guidance - i am contuing to read on the forums - fantastic!