He's great".I recently went to a conference (that fortunately was free) where a really famous name in the flip space talked for an hour about how important relationships and authenticity are in the real estate business.

This was a local buyer.  

You can find a lot of meetings on the MAREI calendar, both MAREI's meetings, local landlord group meetings and a few other meetings hosted by our members. 

When I had located this particular duplex I contacted a local agent to represent me on the acquisition.

Local PM here - we have multiple development projects we are gearing up to sell, both small multifamily and townhouses should you want to take a peak at them.

My thought is to help him out by going in 50-50 partnership for many reasons: half down payment, half capex expense, strong co-signer on loan, me being local to investment property to take care of little things that need attentions (he will be out of state for his job/I will have PM), etc.  1. 

Our team has close partnerships with our local Housing Authorities across our markets and they have communicated to us that we should not anticipate any disruption.

I've been studying different real estate strategies and would love to understand more about how the permitting process is evolving in that area.Did the realtor mention any specific changes in local ordinances, or was it more of a general observation based on market trends?

Since hard money eats into profits, consider private lenders, local banks, or partnerships for lower-cost funding.

You are going to pay more for something new so you might take a look on the local Craigslist, FB marketplace or OfferUP and see what is out there.