You will notice that there are frequent posters who respond to topics with these keywords.

The tax advantages are obviously enormous but that sounds incredibly difficult to do in the Bay area's extremely aggressive real estate market (it's common for properties to receive > dozen offers with extremely minimal marketing, maybe just one open house and then to receive offers -- not uncommonly all cash -- 20-30% over the asking price). 

It is fairly common for out of state investors (especially NY)  to get really excited about the thoughts of owning a MFR at prices that the C Class areas in CT offer.  

For anyone that is starting out in Calgary, here is a mapping tool that I use to check land use zoning and property assessment values: https://maps.calgary.ca/MyProperty/ While analyzing one deal, I noticed that some properties have a dotted red line around it.

No matter how much appreciation you see you're limited to purchase price for 6-12mo (12 more common) know as seasoning.

If you notice I identify myself as a broker associate because I hang my license under another broker.

Splits 70/30 very common for experienced operators and I see clubs / newbies going 80/20 or 75/25 to just get some experience going and attract investors in w/higher potential returns for the limited partner. 

It seems as though the most common consists of 12% interest and 3-5 points.

If so, you can bill back water/sewer consumption (increasing the NOI and cutting one of your largest expenses)  but you'll want to see if that's common practice with your competition and ensure rents line up as well.

If you want to prevent them from selling to someone else, you could file a lawsuit in the county where the property is located and immediately record a notice of pending litigation (lis pendens) with the county clerk.