If you are paying 20%+ to borrow, I would use all your cash first before you ever considered borrowing money. 

Have you ever received a hot lead from a lawyer? 

If you're ever interested in walking through while I'm in town just let me know.

I plan on letting it season for about a year , selling , and using a 1031 to finance a larger MF.

Disadvantages - dealing with tenants, dealing with repairs and property managers, larger time frame to large sum profits.2.There is no average time as every deal is different and every investor strategy and ability is different.

He emails me yesterday and asks if I've ever considered listing a property on the MLS with him since his cash buyers haven't shown much interest in that property yet.

I've made more money since 2010 with a small amount of money and using leverage than that money would have ever made in the stock market, even over 40 years. 

Has anyone ever dealt with something like this?

If you are accredited investor just think about investing with a proven sponsor on a larger value add deal with more equity growth potential for your share of investment.

We obviously need to keep it economical, but I would like to do something creative, and I'm bored with our past designs (generally they consist of a larger field tile with horizontal accent stripe).