@Steve VaughanGreat comment on improving houses you don't have title with sandwich leasesGet on title with "subject to" and a note, no payments on note until the house is resoldOn minor rehabs consider doing a Joint venture with the seller by buying sub2, fixing with private money, reselling fast for a JV fee of $10kMerry Christmas to you Steve!

I would assume that you would have a mortgage and a deed of trust to secure the property, however, the deal could also be structured with a joint venture agreement. 

Hell seasoned investors,just starting out my RE investing venture by moving to single family home and planning to rent my current townhouse.Trying to figure out if it makes sense to rent...perhaps some experienced landlord could help me analyze this. 

I wish you the best of luck in your venture.

He also expressed that he'd be willing to joint venture on his land where he'd supply the land and the JV partner would build.

Consider doing a joint venture with some other AF guys/gals and pooling resources to buy and flip some properties to make some money to then buy and hold some properties. 

I would venture to say keep the first one or couple transactions as simple as possible for you try and complicate the party.

Good luck in your ventures and always keep in mind what you're trying to do and don't give up! 

He has had it for 10+ years but wants to sell it to use the equity towards other business ventures.

I find people are generally happy to hear about your ventures, but when they feel you're going to find success (especially when you become more successful than them or they don't "get it"), the happiness usually turns to jealousy or some other form of negativity.