I'd like to make a purchase within the next 1-2 years so maybe best to keep my cash in a normal savings account with the local credit union for liquidity? 

I know most of them you have to have at least 25k and so much in liquid assets.

What I am hearing from a good portion of them, is that they are liquidating assets in CA (and other west coast states) to buy real estate in Bozeman and surrounding areas.

Worst case, we'll likely have enough liquidity where I could buy 1 house to live in during this buildout, and then close and sell this new construction afterwards, but wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on a more creative structure. 

This type of exchange provides investors with a way of increasing liquidity and diversification of their real estate investments, while deferring very costly capital gains and depreciation recapture taxes that may result from the sale of properties.

The reason for this is that most Real Estate investment loan providers are asset based lenders and are looking at your liquidity, experience as a real estate investor and the asset you are buying/refinancing.

Low cost index funds are available and highly liquid and may be a better fit.- You have a lot more real estate investing options available to you than you may think.

I have other stock investments that I could liquidate to get close to 10% down but would like advise on other methods of financing if anyone has suggestions!

With around 15k liquid savings at this time I am interested in anyone can provide guidance on how I should structure my plan.

From a business perspective, GPs personally investing in a deal is not always in the best interest of the company and syndicate itself as they must maintain certain levels of liquidity to satisfy lender requirements.