I will write the property under my name and, hopefully, later would refinance it to pull out some cash.We're in a good relationship, so there are no worries regarding stealing money from each other or anything along these lines.My main concerns are tax-related; is that a taxable event, how much, is there a way to avoid/reduce it?

Understand the seller's motivation, be willing to forgo/reduce your commission significantly or pay your own closing costs  in order to get the number that works for you.

And also because sellers who haven't owned the property for very long no longer have any equity in the homes with these falling prices and are deciding to simply stay put instead of selling thus reducing the supply of homes available which keeps demand at a tolerable level.Yes I realize that long term historical mortgage rates tend to hover in the 6-7% range, but historical data is only useful data if we live under the same overall economic conditions as when that data was current. 

Reduce the amount the single moms get with each additional baby they decide to have.

I really don't know.It's moving some of the cheaper properties off the market, which reduces inventory.

If your income (MAGI - Modified Gross Adjusted Income) exceeds $100K ($50k if single), the deduction is reduced.

The only thing I know I might be interested in is building new because I can reduce my cost quite a bit.

As demand increases however, I can see them releasing more inventory thus stabilizing or reducing prices.

Reduces the return on investment... not wise.4.

After you've established a relationship you might get a HML to loan on ARV which will greatly reduce your need for out of pocket cash but also hurts your profitability.