Just to clarify, I don't mean partnership in the legal entity sense here, as I think we want an LLC with all of us being passive investors.  

Does anyone know if this price is usually a baseline and they are likely to receive more than their asking price or if it is common to offer a lower amount based on repairs needed?

My question is, does it make sense to put up a pool cage over the pool? 

Many times people in these situations do not want to sell, so when a buyer gets a person ready to sell it is a motivated seller.In these situations the person in any of those situation mentioned above may have more debt on the house than what the value of the home is, or the value of the home after rehab and purchase still will not give the investor as much return on their money that would make sense since there is not enough equity.

For pretty houses a 3-10% option fee is reasonable with 3-5% being most common.

If you can get others to pay down your mortgage, it might be worth it.Basically, it's like living in AirBNBs while you're home... but its YOURS.Of course, run the numbers and see if that makes sense.

Depending on credit score and other factors, FHA or conventional may make more sense for one person over another.  

Unfortunately this kind of stuff is fairly common.

At that point, it's a little more complex than just splitting things 50/50, but you need to do what makes sense to everyone involved. 

It's common for them to be "missing" or blank.