We travel for work (healthcare) and chronically live out of MTRs, so it will be our first time operating a shorter term, but won’t be an entirely foreign situation to us.

Those funds are not mine until there is a sales settlment, or default or refund to the buyer. 

With running this "business" there will be operational input costs.

The issue with section 179 expense is that you normally have to operate at positive income.Under most circumstances, bonus depreciation is better since you can take bonus depreciation even if you operate at negative income. 

The operations will make or break you. 

Looking to see if anyone has a basic template of an operating agreement for a business partnership of two parties involved in the fix and flipping business?

It's easier to scale with multifamily properties due to income potential and operations.

I think you'd really have to work hard by mining bitcoin, leave the windows open in winter with heat on full blast, or something similarly unusual to exceed the cap. 

A friend of mine had a similar journey - they turned their old home into a rental property and soon realized they loved managing tenants and exploring ways to add value.

They perhaps can build cheaper than you can, finance cheaper, operate cheaper and to get it leased up, offer things like 1-2-3 months free rent.