(The other scammers are from posts here on Bigger Pockets from people with similar situations as mine) McMann Commercial Lending, Walter Trock & Michael LanzaGenie Investments - David Hughes and Mike ConnerSilversky capital out of Lubbock, TX.Jerry Yang and Guatam ShahSmartZip - Smart ZipAmerican Money Loan ServicesTom Vanderlaan.FLIP AND FAST LOANS LLC.Also read this post.

I'm in a similar situation.

Off-market special situation acquisition from a forced seller at a 20%+ discount to market.

In this situation, can all the partners claim mortgage payment as expense in their individual taxes (or just the partner who owns the mortgage)?

Ok, I'm really looking for advice and curious to see what others would do in my situation.

Sans the closet situation :) good luck with it. 

Look for sellers who need to sell—due to financial strain, property issues, or other urgent situations.

And keep in mind that the rate on the 2nd lien will likely be 10-12% so depending on the cash flow it might not actually yield that much cash to you at closingMore importantly, it's just more debt so ultimately it sounds like you need an income-producing event to actually improve your situation and avoid some of the consequences that you mentioned

In that situation I purchased a SF property 4 hours away from me this year as a fix-n-flip and to test the hypothesis that long distance fix-n-flips could be viable investments. 

You may have different questions or your situation is different.