Not trying to sound paranoid, but I've been reading horror stories and Id like to be able to assure future investors that everything is running smoothly when taking on a project like that.

It's in my lease that tenant is responsible for maintaining lawn, weeding, snow/ice removal of entrance walkways and USPS access to mailbox, and any other HOA compliance items, and that if tenant does not comply, the landlord has the right to hire a professional service to complete after giving tenant x-day notice to comply, tenant to be financially responsible for payment of professional service, to be considered as additional rent due in the month immediately following the landlord's providing the invoice to the tenant.  

OZ compliance just came out so be sure to have contracts and timelines in order.

I offer to assist owner on paying code compliance fees, by adding half of what he owes to the purchase agreement price.

Some have policies against certain transactions but I assure you the people inside every title company know more about getting transactions done than you will ever learn.

This keeps everything in compliance with the pesky Dodd Frank/Safe Act and gives you a well documented loan file that makes a note more valuable if you ever want to liquidate. 

Most sponsors do not touch non-accredited investors because of the extra red tape for compliance issues and the unsophisticated nature of the investor.Institutional money could almost be a infinite source of capital but they can put very heavy constraints on the sponsor so many sponsors do not like to use institutional money or only make it a very small part of the capital stack.Example if someone is worth 100k unaccredited and invests 20k with a sponsor they might bother the sponsor night and day and worry about the money.

Also also, it might pay to do some reading on TCPA compliance and autodialers if you're going to go that route.

He walked property with me and provided assurance I needed to put in a quick offer without taking excessive time to evaluate area I'm not versed in or try and hire a contractor to walk property with me.My partner proposed that I get an annual 7% return on my down payment off the top of the net cash flows and retain 100% of the initial equity from down payment and then we split the remaining cash flows and equity gain 50:50.To me this almost emulates a 3 party deal with a money man (7% annual return interest only off top) , a real estate investor (50% equity gain and 50% remaining cash flow) , and a contractor/repair man (50% equity gain and 50% remaining cash flow) except that I take on the role of the money man and the real estate investor. 

You may be able to secure hard money, but they'll want to be assured you have a way to pay on the note during renovation.I think you need to look to private investors or partners.