The owner spoke Polish with very limited English.

Cutting it is the easy part,  getting the cut faces polished to perfection  like the top is more difficult. 

I really have to say that you have done an amazing job on polishing this property.

A well-polished phone script gives you a consistent approach that keeps you focused on what you are trying to accomplish and achieve.

My family and I currently live in this home and are polishing a few things to get it rent-ready.

All partners contributing equitable cash.1st property was almost turnkey - took a little paint and spit n polish and it was up and running.2nd property was a total rehab, then converted to rental.The way we decided to do it is that on the first property, the partner who is managing that property gets a percentage of monthly rent as a management fee.  

You need to have polished skills to go directly to a listing agent, kind of like a spy trying to flip another agent (lol).

You pay whatever you negotiate.If you feel your negotiating skills could use some polish then work on them by reading and learning more.I would find out WHY the tenants love this guy.Also deferred maintenance.The seller could have been putting off things for years.I did a seller finance deal with very no money down.I had 1/2 month escrow for title and taxes and then title policy to pay for.That's all I had in it.Steve if you pay a slightly higher rate with less down then you can leverage your cash.It all depends on what you are trying to do.Every possible deal has multiple ways to structure it each with it's own pluses and minuses.

Time is money and everyone who joins one of the several similar forums out there is likely looking for some education so they can either make their first deal in real estate, or polish their skills.  

As far as 3-4 years from now, I'd have to polish up the ol' crystal ball for that answer, but I can tell you that in the last recession the Baton Rouge market fared very well compared to the markets in many other prominent cities.