You could ask a family friend if they would be interested in Striking up a deal, but anybody looking for a return on their money is going to shy away from owner occupant partnerships. he might be able to find somebody who would buy the house for you and then owner finance it to you.

He also strikes me as the kind of individual who genuinely enjoys being miserable.

Conversely, as a newbie individual out of state investor - triple strike - looking at markets like the Midwest, you won't have the reputation or credentials to get very far with brokers or sellers.

(Lightning strikes, other weather, accident damage to sign structure, gun shots to panels..)

Well no money, time, or car are some pretty heavy strikes against you.

It strikes me that so much of the sponsor diligence is placed on the individual - are there centralized networks where reviews of sponsors can be crowdsourced? 

@Raj AjrawatI have posted this several times on BP and I don’t think I have ever had anyone follow up on itFind out some small to mid size note investors, ask them if they have any foreclosure sales coming up - you can strike a deal with them upfront if they get the home back you will buy it for X or work with them to start with a lower bid at auction for what they would sell it for and then you have a starting point at auctionFor example we had 3 foreclosure sales last 3 months and we actually sold the properties for more post auction than what we bid and got property back at foreclosure

Any chance your could sell him an option now which fixes he strike price on the house and he could start developing at the other end of the block and give you an additional 3-4 months?

It is hard holding cash....but I have taken some advice from video I saw of Warren Buffet this week about only swinging at strikes....he made the point how much better hitters are when they only swing at strikes. 

The look of IKEA can be striking, but as soon as I open doors and drawers on the display floor models, I begin to worry about the quality.