Obviously I'd love to strike a deal with him but I'd also like to help him create a game plan, even if I'm not in the picture.

However in investment real estate this might be the moment to strike.

This reminds me of the "Profit First" model and strikes me as a quick way to weed out a deal as you get into it.  

Given that you said they're in excellent condition and have been on the market for many months now (during decent times to rent), a price drop appears to be in order to strike up interest.

so I'm familiar with the purchase process but I'm striking out when I try to figure out the fine print of how it works with a partnership...  

HOWEVER "spoiler alert" you will have a major issue IF you do not finish paying yourself back e.g. transferring jobs or strike it rich in real estate and quit main job... so just be understanding forward thinking gl:)

You may want to strike that one off your list. 

  $450k could be a tear down in certain areas...You have one strike against you in being a distant investor, it has been hard to fine flip properties in any market on the MLS so you may want to fine tune the areas you are interested and try off market methods of finding property.  

So, I'm basically asking how to strike a deal via leveraging of my high income, good credit score, high effective tax rate, but current low access to capital (I put most of my liquidity into my fund, which on a risk adjusted basis has higher returns than real estate, but is tied up for 5-7 years)I've run numbers such as financing the down payment via credit card offers I get - downside here is that the cost of capital isn't deductible and ups the monthly rental; it's also limited to ~30k.

They agreed to strike the maint. charges and terms.