You sit and you wait....With new construction waiting isn't as bad a renovation because your holding cost is around a 7% rate, where as a renovation you are probably on a hard money loan at 12-15%. 

Lender needs to do loan modification but they have to stretch it to three years or more.

The title and loan is obviously in his name currently but we agreed to fund renovations (and yes, we created a written agreement for this) and then share in the rental income profits.

There are many lenders that will not do loans to LLC entities . 

I have this issue with my beach property :)Overall your approach to using cash and getting a loan later isn't a bad one at all.

The title and loan is obviously in his name currently but we agreed to fund renovations (and yes, we created a written agreement for this) and then share in the rental income profits.

Every loan I crunched had us raising rents on the 3 other tenants to get even vaguely close to our numbers. 

I currently have about $112,000 worth of equity and also have my VA loan tied up in the property. 

I have another 5-10 years to retire and I do not want another loan.

Get with a local banker and have them walk you through the process of getting a loan from them.