@Jim Perin if you are talking strictly developer fee that is generally going to be 3-4% of the total cost.

I would also recommend setting strict screening criteria to steer away from people who would just be wasting your time.  

The STR regs are strict but manageable and pretty stable so far.You could find a decent place in your 1-1.25m range.

The value add is strictly cleaning up the property and taking care of the landscaping and interior paint.

That said, there are A FEW people on this forum who have established themselves to such an extent here on this board that "private lenders" might consider doing business with them without ever meeting them (and, in my opinion, Jay Hinrichs is one of those rare birds - but you will have noticed that he has >30'000 posts/votes, and you have 12), but for the rest of us, its strictly a belly-to-belly thing.

(Actual payment or fully amortized) As I said above, they may elect to strictly adhere to FNMA/FHLMC.

A couple of the remaining partners are on board with financing, but on the strict condition that no personal liability is created. 

The commercial world is a different beast and the lenders are pretty strict when it comes to DPs, cash reserves, etc.  ....  

My lender said HELOCs are strictly for primary residences and not for investment properties.

If I was taking on a partner, I would structure that through an LLC with each member having a specified share of the LLC based strictly on their monetary contribution to start the LLC.