or invested in mutual funds which they have lost faith in and/or scare them because of the risk.

I have to say it's amazing how beneficial this was.  

In Denver, I found that it was much more beneficial to buy a $400k'ish property and rent 2 units because now I only pay $200/month to live there.If you cannot purchase 2-4 unit properties, just look at your costs and then look hard at your opportunity costs.Happy buying, wherever it is! 

I started a handy man business along with my full time job, plus we had some investments do quite well on mutual funds so we were able to put 25% DP on a duplex in a great neighborhood and we cash flow $700 a month on that property.

These are not mutually exclusive so I'd say keep your eyes open for both.As far as using cash to buy then refi out later, again it depends on your intentions with the property.

Whats the best way to make it mutually beneficial for us to partner together?  

Other than not having to pay PMI, I'm not sure how beneficial this would be though.Yeah, I highly doubt I could get 20-30% taken off, but it's nice to think about.

@Mike KalobI was originally told a similar thing by my insurance agent (Liberty Mutual) but he later said I was good to add more policies. 

What is beneficial with modular is time-savings.  

After 15 years in finance, we started getting more active with our investments and decided that it would be beneficial for me to get licensed.