he wants to sell, and willing to sell his part in a discount

There are people who will go out and find anything that they can to get a free/discounted stay.

This is what i have for closing costs. i think the only thing i can actually save on is the "discount fee".

low cashflow high appreciationNotes purchased in the secondary market at discount to remaining principal balance have the built in capital gain profit with potential for greater ROI thru early payoff or early PARTIAL paydown.  

So I would suggest invest in both as long as you can get them at the right discount to where you can scale. 

Additional contingencies should be added to the budget and discounted valuations should be applied in such scenarios. 

What is astounding to me is the ready acceptance by the people purchasing these guru programs that with only the guru training they’ll be able to make tons of cash by identifying and tying up all these 40% + discount deals that all of us with the experience, education and capital have somehow missed.  

So say they pay on the 7th then they would get a $50 discount and only pay $50.

The second duplex was like an episode of Hoarders and needed significant work (including an eviction and terminating the lease on the other side, however, I knew that going in and we discounted the price accordingly knowing that significant renovations were needed. 

I've found even though you can get some modest discounts it makes things much easier to keep everything with the broker.