And we did  a lot of last second partnering too when one needed 50k to buy we would just walk up and hand them a check ( of course we knew them well) but for the decision to invest its a rapid fire one..

I have two SFHs in VA and a duplex in Omaha, looking to scale Omaha up rapidly over the next year or two! 

I ended up with 31 units in Rapid City, SD. 

Have you ever considered other areas like Ann Arbor, Lansing, Kalamazoo, or Grand Rapids?

He has already gotten the cash and bought an asset with it (a fishing permit that he purchased for $18k and it rapidly appreciated to about $35-40k now) so I think he can be persuaded to just get out from underneath it, if the numbers can be put on paper and worked out in such a way that both of us are content.I'll need to find out what he owed on his mortgage around the time that we originally agreed to purchase, in order to calculate some sort of rent credit, right?

The current seller is rapidly dropping his price because he needs to sell.

If you're willing to go residential, there are quite a few fourplexes on the far east side that are still rapidly appreciating and have a lot of potential for value-add. 

During this month long evolution I've become interested in multifamily properties.

What we are seeing is the evolution, not the death of retail.

Take a look at Rapid City, SD.