As much as equity sharing is profitable for you, it is also a way to show your clients “Hey I am here for your success as much as you are, and I have a personal investment in you” which is an incredibly inspiring model.I would however say maybe scale your equity based on the current state profit margin of your client, or even work in a sliding scale so it doesn’t turn off potential clients who may be at a slim profit margin as is and are concerned about it getting any slimmer.

I'm concerned that if I place an ad to find people who will work on an hourly basis (in the area of the property) that I might have a hard time finding people who can reliably respond to emergencies during off hours, but I can't afford to have someone working full time or with standard on-call rotations. 

I also appreciate about your concern, thank you so much! 

You have bills to pay, it's sad that they have issues but it's not your concern and your bank damn sure doesn't care. 

Whereas, if you were to default on a HELOC against your primary, you immediately go into foreclosure and have a bigger concern than getting sued?

The agent is willing to work with me and offered to pay our agent a referral fee but that they would need to be in the deal someway since it was their opportunity - which I honestly understand and would not try to snatch from them.I was concerned with the pros and cons with either route - direct or through an agent.

Are there concerns like location, zoning or land use, or is it simply about passing the inspection if it's a residential use?

All very unlikely.Also, I'd be highly concerned about that 18% vacancy rate you'd be buying into!

I am concerned about theft during and after renovation so a policy that can cover that would be of utmost importance. 

Lots of money to attorneys, lots of time lost and you still have a house that needs fixing.One word of caution, be careful of who you take advise from concerning the HVAC and drainage issues.