You are looking at 90,000 in commissions versus 1 million.You have to look at the potential book of business and how demanding a client will be and how hard the properties will be to sell ( work involved ) and see if it makes sense.Since I am a principal broker I make calls daily on who I work with and why for my business. 

Mortgage left is $81k with payments of $760 a month which includes principal, interest, property tax, and insurance.

What happens to membership units after all limited partner's have had their principal paid back?

With every 30yr fixed rate mortgage comes an embedded option: the option to prepay the principal balance with cash, refinance, etc. into another loan. 

In all cases where real property has been heretofore, or shall be hereafter, sold on execution or in any mortgage foreclosure proceeding, the purchaser at such sale, or his successor or successors in interest, may during the year or years of redemption, in case of the expiration during such year of any insurance policy on the premises sold, pay the premium necessary to procure a renewal of such policy; and in case of any taxes or assessments being delinquent, or in case any installment of interest or principal upon any prior or superior mortgage shall be due or become due during such period of redemption, the purchaser may pay the same when or after due, and in all such cases, the amount so paid, with interest thereon, shall be and constitute a part of the sum necessary to be paid for the redemption from such sale.Disclaimer: I am not an attorney nor do I play one on TV.

As a fellow Californian,I will tell you that your small salary doesn't pay for an apartment let alone a multi-family home on a conventional loan.The bank will expect your PITI monthly payments (Principal,Interest,Taxes,Insurance) to be no more then $650.00 per month on a gross salary of 2000.Your gross salary must be 3 times larger than the payment on a conventional loan or even paying rent.The rent you would charge the other families is not allowed to be considered income for the debt to income ratio for their consideration until two years of successful ownership has passed and shown on your tax returns.

Or do you think it is better to take out a lower year term (maybe 10 or 15) and push the principal down more quickly in order to gain access to your equity through a HELOC or something?  

There's very little principal paydown on the first three years of a typical mortgage.Good luck!

I am going to list the high points below:List price $35,000.00Negotiate down to $29,750.00 (15% reduction)Down payment of 15% = $4,462.50My principal = $25,287.50Interest Rate = 5%Term on loan = 15 yrsNote = $199.97Sale price to lease option holder = $44,625.00 (1.5 x my purchase price)Down payment paid by buyer = $4,462.50 (10% of purchase price)Buyer principal = $40,162.50Interest charged to buyer = 8%Buyer term on loan = 15 yrsTaxes = $50.00 (added directly to buyers monthly payment)Insurance = $50.00 (added directly to buyers monthly payment)Buyers monthly payment = $483.81 (Note + Taxes + Insurance)Buyer covers all maintenance and repairsMy monthly profit $183.84The beauty of this plan to me is that the amount I put down in a down payment is the same amount that the buyer pays me in a down payment which causes me to have ZERO money on the table when they start making monthly payments.  

One of the principals is here on BP, but with no profile, no posts, no activity.