Maybe it would be best to first do one under my name so I could benefit from some home buyer programs that wouldn't require as much money down? 

There are lots of benefits to it as well as pitfalls.

In regards to tax benefits, I would recommend talking to a quality CPA in your area.Robert Leonard

One of the benefits of the Albany area is renters may stay for long periods (this tenant had been living there for 13 years).

The more you put down the cheaper the loan which clearly benefits you at the end of the month!

That could work, but it's not common, advisable, or best.I highly recommend you start digging into a book or two about commercial investments because they can absolutely be different, and to your benefit.

We will likely get an LLC for our wholesaling business, and I'm not certain if there is benefit in my non-realtor wife to have only her name on the LLC.

@Michael Miller, I think that protecting your assets in a LLC also has tax benefits to you as well that you may not receive otherwise. 

You could try and charge a % of profits, but how easy would it be for them to operate either under the table or at a "loss" to avoid that.So if it were me, i'd look at doing a lesser amount to start and phrase it as a benefit to them to help them get their business off the ground with an excerpt to reevaluate after a year.

The benefit of having a software is that you can always go back at your historical data in case you wanted to do some analysis on your business.