You could do a partnership, joint venture and other variations. 

Each of the cities listed have many variations of ROI, vacancy, demographics, etc.

Let me know if there is anything I can help you with but depending on what your goals are, could mean a variation to consider.

Slight variations is 1% of what you financed vs purchase price (example a 20% down would bring your SFH to $400k financed so you should expect $4,000 a month).My guess in the DC market, depending on your investment goals, the 50% rule isn't really going to work due to how expensive it generally is there.Tag @Russell Brazil since he knows the area much better than I could possibly hope to and he might be able give more insight.

Your going to hear "no" or much ruder variations of it a lot.

Best is to find an investor and work for them gains your best knowledge...offer to work for next to nothing so you can be mentored....but one on one mentoring is your best training....books are great and offer tips and tricks for how they did it but there are so many variations...You have to know what you want to do in real estate first...rehab houses or buy and hold for rents...or wholesale...buy low sell to buyer for profit...may it be at retail or to another investor...and then you have to be careful if you do not have a real estate license...! 

I appreciate you taking the time to chime in as I'm sure you get a variation of this question on a daily basis.

@Liz Sickinger Maybe I'm not following...are you saying you want to weigh using a lender instead of private capital...there's a lot more going on here, just trying to get on the same page.Forming an LLC doesn't really accomplish that much for establishing a joint venture...I mean, they're good, but you'll need an attorney to draft an operating or JV agreement...I guess you can always go forward on a handshake if you're in a great relationship...but there are a lot of moving parts and risk associated with flipping property.If your partner is funding the deals 100% he'll require security in the form of a deed...so, he'd have ownership from the get go and you would be able to hold equitable title (depending on the terms of your agreement that is)...there's a hundred different variations to this...Sorry, hard to give a straight response without more facts. 

There are a lot of variations on what a Developer does but this is how I would answer your question.

its all in what you agree to together......if you are partnering with an investor then there will be a shared responsibility for different portions of the project.....what will each of you be bringing to the table......it can be 50/50, 75/25, or any variation......be sure you write everything down in a contact.