If as a partner, you had better have your attonrey draft a good JV agreement OR form an entity of which you both are partners, which would also include a formal operating agreement drafted by your attorney.If you choose to act in the lender capacity, your borker will handle all the paperwork you need other than your own internal paperwork requirements.

No extension cords over x feet may be used might be better.

As a few other people have mentioned in this thread, a leak is no joke and is better to get it rectified asap.

If it turns out to be some mythical pie in the sky projection about what the cap rate might be 5 years from now, and my buyer client [ideal outcome to follow] has to use that to negotiate price down, oh well, guess they shouldn't have misled in their marketing, sucks to be the seller who hired a broker that advertises falsely, guess they should do a better job next time.

Would a hard money loan be better without 2 years income or another way?

The earlier you start in your RE journey, the better off you will be in the future.

It'll work better for both of you.

So, my question is then is my new plan doable or is there a better strategy?

So a more formal setting is usually better for me personally. 

In that case, you better be liquid, making income and even have a few months of reserves how many deals have you done and how long have you been doing them?