Deal structure for single family spec

[Glenn Zweig]

I'm a newbie here so please forgive me if I'm breaking any posting etiquette. I come from the large institutional type development world so one off single family deals is new to me. I'm in Atlanta and I'm looking to do some spec deals around here (as a developer, not builder). The market doesn't feel overheated yet. I'm thinking of a very simple 50/50 split between me and outside equity. I'd be putting up none of the capital (just sweat equity). I have what I feel are reasonable assumptions getting those outside investors a 50% cash on cash (and IRR assuming it takes roughly a year from start to finish).

Two questions: 

1) Is that split "market"?  Am I giving up too little?  Too much?  Is a pref ever part of these deals?

2) My balance sheet is limited (as is my wife's risk appetite). I'm trying to figure out a way to avoid signing a PG. Any thoughts? Maybe asking the outside investors to do it and giving up more of the deal? Asking the builder to do it? One suggestion I've heard is to lower the LTV and maybe the bank will be o.k. without a pg but then my returns are pretty ugly. I'm sure there are also hard money lenders who will loan at high double digit interest rates and suck up all the profits. Any creative solutions out there?