There's no real harm to keep tracking your hours, so it shouldn't matter too much anyway at this point.

So even if you had a buy out agreement negotiated up front and execute that buy out agreement, the bank would still require him to be guarantor unless something drastic changed on your side financially.The best scenario here would be to purchase and rehab the property using a hard money lender or bridge lender.  

I imagine it would also have a lot to do with your long term goals in real estate.

Quote from @Derek Harville: You could accept it and then sell it to recoup your money. 

Would love input from anyone experienced in LLC structuring, real estate taxation, or succession planning.

Or is the money better spent elevating the master experience overall? 

Check fees are $10**** When buying physical real estate, you must have a 10% cushion of the purchase price**We waive the first 6 transaction review fees for the life of the account.*** The first 12 incoming checks are free each year.

Make sure the space is not oversaturated and there is real upside.

Two of those are Real estate Investing, and working in the Residential Construction Industry.

(cost of buy-down in dollars / monthly savings vs the free loan = # of months it would take to recoup the money spent). will you keep the LOAN at least that long?