Lets look this over...1. you stated you want to try and break up a contract between two parties ...a seller and broker...so that YOU can broker the deal.

We could break up lending into different tiers of lets say>100k100-500k500k-1Mil1mil plusNow since the market that I invest in has a median home price of around 100k I can intelligently speak to the financial circumstances of that market.

However, there are a few things that have been bothering me: 1) he never pays in full and has to break up his payments, 2) I don't know when he's going to pay and 3) sometimes he'll shut down and not respond / make up an excuse when I nudge him. 

Both sellers have mentioned they will break up the portfolio.  

See if you can figure a deal where he's your bank and you own the rentals or you find a way to break up at some point where you move half the rentals to each of you.  

Years ago when I was in my 20's a neighbors down the street were going thru a break up . ( no protective order in place ) She changed the locks and wouldnt let him in .

Just like with a bad tenant break-up, just pay up and move on, see what you can learn from it. 

The method also tells you to break up tasks into smaller tasks. 

The likely hood is that he will end up back in prison or they will break up.

I got the unit rented again...my bank accounts are not suffering...and we both don't have stress nor negative feelings over our "breakup".