Like I said we did some things wrong, the initial contract was bad and we should have never signed it.

The GC was familiar with the area but didn't include any of those repairs in his initial bid. 

Three years is a long time to recoup your initial investment capital when you have assumed the renovation risks.  

An initial down payment or earnest money is not financing.

Ok, now that you have taken your initial step, below are some quick links to get engaged.http://www.biggerpockets.com/startherewww.biggerpockets.com/meet Setting up Keyword Alerts How to Use @Mentions on BiggerPockets 25 Tips for Real Estate SuccessREI can be very daunting, but, before you go searching for that 1st buy, please take a few minutes to bone up on the tips in link below.http://www.realestate.com/advice/buying-your-first-investment-property/

I misspoke in my initial post - the tenants are actually NOT under lease.

Ok, now that you have taken your initial step, below are some quick links to get engaged.http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere Setting up Keyword Alerts How to Use @Mentions on BiggerPockets 25 Tips for Real Estate SuccessREI can be very daunting, but, before you go searching for that 1st buy, please take a few minutes to bone up on the tips in link below.http://www.realestate.com/advice/buying-your-first-investment-property/

Moreover, for educational purposes, the advisor whose clients have their monies tied up in only so many investment vehicles(securities) could further leverage that same money by borrowing against just one of those securities, fund RE deals(not even mine) and let the same initial security investment work a double for him/her.

My initial reaction is that this is not something for a newbie to tackle - you might want to start out with something a little more straight forward.

Is it typical for a general partner to charge investors a one time entrepreneurial fee (sorry, it's an appraiser term) for managing the investment, raising the funds, getting the financing and managing the cap ex up front when the investment is initiated at closing?