If I were doing it my way I would have done it in the BP organized fashion, but I'll let my partner figure it out the hard way!

If I partnered in that fashion and operated as Property Manager, would I need to be licensed or as part owner, I'm guessing Im exempt from that?

Also any solutions as to what to do with the old fashioned window panes that I’ll be left with ?

This is the bank's responsibility to disclose their fees in a proper fashion.  

Doesn't quite work out to be a wash because CA usually has higher tax rates so if you earned $2,000 in SC you probably paid a much lower rate... say $50 in taxes but in CA the tax on $2,000 is probably more like $180, but you would only get a credit for $50 so CA still essentially taxes that $2,000 in some fashion. 

These same neighbors used to complain about my wife and I in the same fashion constantly.

I've never enforced a penalty, but it still provided a legal basis for firing a contractor or suing of he doesn't complete the work in a timely fashion. - Don't pay ahead of work completed, or at least minimize payment.  

The seller usually didn't realize or care that the buyer was there because of the inclusion of that clause in the contract, the seller's agent was spoken of in an ingratiating fashion, and the investor could present their offer in the most favorable light.

I have not underwritten anything with less than 200 units, but I assume brokers for smaller deals market properties in a similar fashion.

It often starts with boring old-fashioned acquisition though.