@Jay MirandaIf your partner in this venture will be purchasing the property in cash, you could lend the rehab money in exchange for a (1st position) mortgage (registered against title naturally).

If PMI for rental property mortgages is tax deductible, then is a 20% down payment as important as it would be for a home you would occupy or live in? For a rental property it seems like you can do a lower down, get m...

You can use standard depreciation, 1031 exchanges, or cost segregation.

Should I encourage my friend to make this investment happen, even if it is without me (or for a small share of it in exchange for assisting him, finding it, managing, etc.) or just wait for a couple of months until I'm in a position to invest my half of cost but risk losing the property?

Using roughly the same amount of money you described from a 1031 exchange, I was able to buy two cash flowing properties right here in Denver this month.  

-Tax strategies, such as a 1031 Exchange (which totally blew me away when I read it)-If I stopped working tomorrow, how long could I survive? 

If the property owner intends to reinvest the sales proceeds into another similar property, then they could do a 1031 Exchange.

Some were Section 1031 exchanges so taxes were deferred.The benefit as I see it of the 30 year mortgage, if you are just starting out or need to finance is:1.

Right now as we speak the Germans and Chinese have decided to change there ex currency of settlement from the US dollar to the Yuan?

I really should be 1031 exchanging into something appropriate but the larger issue is I don't want multifamily or commercial and it will be very difficult to land the right SFRs within the 1031 timeframe.