If I were the neighbor, it sounds like I'd be the only one bringing money to the table so you could get something you want.

That’s great advice Taz, I’m currently working on saving enough money to get started, house hacking is hard for me at the moment because I just bought a house 2 years ago, I would have to sell my house(which is in a great neighborhood great location) and use that money to fund the duplex which isn’t totally out of the question, I would like to keep the house if possible but also would like to get real estate investing more.

That likely means that they are not good with money management which you are likely expecting from him.To answer your question, if you are doing long-term rentals, the LLC taxed as a partnership is likely the go to route.Best of luck.  

Cash and Hard money How did you add value to the deal?

Purchase price: $125,000 Cash invested: $65,000 Sale price: $250,000 Wish I could have held onto it but needed the money to fund future deals What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

money dont care

So many "investors" bury themselves in complex, expensive situations to protect themselves from some unknown threat to their non-existent business.Figure out if you have any shooting skills (or even enjoy the game) before spending money on $600 Nikes or an indoor basketball court. 

Quote from @Jaikevis Reams: In order to put a property under contract I need to provide proof of funds I know that I can get that from a hard money lender but I don’t meet there criteria for a loan approval what should I do? 

None really reduce the amount of money they have to come up with, but if they are broke as a joke do you really want them as your tenants?

Once your emergency account has a reasonable amount in it, whatever that means to you, you might want to think about steering that payroll money into the investment savings account from each pay check and leave the emergency account money as is.