Once I have more experience and see how things work I may feel comfortable not using an agent.

Gets you more comfortable going to areas where the best deals exist instead of forcing a deal in your area.

Your situation seems pretty straight forward (no rehab on settlement statement) so the delayed finance is fairly easy and I think most lenders will be comfortable with it. 

Hi Ephraim,In the simplest form, lets say you and your new business friend Bob think that a house over on 6th street would make a good rental, but it needs some work.It costs $100,000 and you guys intend to use a paid property manger.You and Bob agree to each put in $10,000 ($10k + $10k = $20k down payment) and split the loan fees equally for the 80% loan, and split the renovation cost equally to make it rentable.In this instance, it makes sense that both you and Bob are 50%/50% owners of the property and should each get 50% of the monthly profits (and or losses) and share any needed extra expenses incurred during ownership 50/50.Now if only one of you is going to put money into the deal and the other is going to provide sweat equity, depending on the amount of sweat equity needed that MAY determine the seat equity cut (but if the money partner wants a bigger percentage the sweat partner will have to decide if his efforts are worth what's left over).It's best to pay an attorney to help you figure out the wording of this.

What are you comfortable spending?  

Also, it’s important to work with an agent who understands your goals and what you’re looking for so you can be most comfortable in your search.

You should see some efficiencies of scale with a larger property.I'd be more comfortable with 8% vacancy.What's the $200 electric bill for?

Selling homes will supplement the rental income until I can live comfortably off of the investments.  

You can probably find deals that will be close to 2%, but now you’re venturing into some rougher areas that I wouldn’t feel comfortable raising my kids In.

Also, if you have buyer in mind you would to work with on this, you can introduce them to the couple as your investment partner, this may make everyone more comfortable.