If he finds a great deal, it would be presented first to someone already signed up with him where he has one less hurdle (getting a signed agreement.)So in your situation, I would suggest signing the agreement. 

Along with paying the rent, make sure they won't take an unreasonable toll on you or the property.It may be a case where you can offer the place to the first choice (I open it for 24 hours to accept and sign/pay 1st month and deposit) and if they take it great, but if they decline, you have solid second choice (not a bad place to be in as a landlord).

You might could reduce rent but add in percentage rent above certain sales hurdles.

What are some hurdles I may face?  

On the flip side though, you can have a deal that has a higher IRR but a much lower total return over the same hold period.IMO IRR should be used more as a hurdle than an end all be all metric.

For me this was a huge hurdle that made me think we are actually going to close on this deal.

It takes about a year from start to finish and it didn't seem unreasonable to go from one step to the other.

So I feel like that won't work.The other hurdle I am facing is that my partner share my excitement about real estate investing in general but she does not support my idea of starting to invest even before behind our primary residence. 

I averaged out water usage per day per person and it came out to a little less than 53 gallons per person per day, which doesn't seem unreasonable. 

Just hurdles to find a way over.  :-)I took a look at this property when it came on - your instincts are correct that there's opportunity here.