Also that is not a huge discount to give a person a half.  

The STR strategy could help reduce your taxable income, but the answer to that question varies person to person. A

Is your person a project manager or a construction manager?

Clearly you are not a lazy person as you are out there trying to make things happen.

Spend the money on a screening process and then make yourself stick to being a business person as opposed to a good friend of the tenant.

I dont think opening a joint account where Person A and Person B have withdrawal rights where Person A funds the account with $100,000 is considered a gift; resulting in a gift tax return.I believe you have to actually take the money out of the joint account for it to be triggered a gift.This may make their life more difficult as they have to track how much you take out every year.I think the simple solution is to just have them write you a check.

Good questions would be business related (about the market, etc.) as well as about the person (as appropriate), so you don't make them feel like they are just a cash cow that can send you deals. 

A person as an image of the company is ALWAYS better than a crappy text logo with a "cleverly" added roof top  on top of the text.

I will play Devil's Advocate and disagree with Jacob on the payment issue -- if your mentor is a busy person (as most successful investors are), time is money, and outsourcing smaller tasks for pay is a good business decision.

the trick is to market it well and be patient enough to find the right buyer, because not all people value properties the same way (Person B may be willing to pay 5x more for the same property than Person A - pricing raw land definitely ISN'T an exact science).