Or is finding a partnership maybe my best bet here? 

@Leonard RobinsonYour personal CPA who knows how much income you make along with the type of income you make will likely make a better suggestion on entity type(whether you need it or not) than individuals on a message board here.With that said - it is normally not advisable to hold real estate within a corporation(C-Corp or S-Corp).It will likely also not impact your situation whether your real estate is held by you personally or within an LLC(disregarded or partnership).

If you hold title through an entity that files its own tax return, the figuring is done differently... there's a bit of an if/then flow chart we use:If the liability is in the individual (not the businesses name) we analyze the form 8825 from that entity (the "schedule e" that a business entity like a partnership uses).

Employment base seems fairly stable (government, banks, health system), and the hospital system appears to be growing with partnerships with Virginia Tech.

The first concern is whether you hold title together, as tenants in common, or through an entity, like a partnership or LLC.

Investors, including myself, would like to know who we are partnering with before we get into an equity partnership on a property.

Join REIA groups to learn, have access to properties and possible partnerships.  50% of something is way better than 100% of nothing.

I'm seeking a contractor to work on a steady stream of rehabs and estimates in the Raleigh/Durham and Fayetteville areas.

One reason that almost all business sales now-a-days are structured as asset sales, not entity sales.If you do buy into his LLC, assuming it's disregarded for federal income tax purposes, we treat it like this: (1) an asset sale to the existing holder, the buyer obtains an undivided interest in the LLC assets and simultaneously (2) the buyer and seller (members) are deemed to contribute of each of their undivided interests in the LLC assets and liabilities into a newly formed partnership tax entity.There isn't a 754 election available in this situation, as a partnership interest was not what was sold for tax purposes. 

I am in talks with a multi-family owner who would like to sell me his property, but stay on as a 20% owner as I re-position it over a 2-year period. This raises some tax questions for me. This property is in New Hamps...