Personally, owning MANY homes as a real estate investor has built my business and my lifestyle, so I wouldn’t walk away from home ownership myself.

Co-ownership creates a multitude of issues with lenders.  

(Call different title companies and find out) and give them your paperwork, have the investor and seller sign their forms and wa-la walk out with a smile on your face.If you decide to take ownership and resell, you will pay double closing cost.

I would recommend he finds a good cross-border accountant before setting up any kind of ownership entity. 

Allocations based on anything other than percentage of ownership breach the one-class-of-stock rule and are not allowable in an S corporation.S corporation shareholders must be of the same class, except for the ability to hold voting and nonvoting shares.

I know if i purchase this home I would be taking ownership of this lien, but my question is: can the original lender then come after me for the loan amount?

Yep, after you learn the principles of real estate, you know, the stuff that doesn't promise you'll make a million by Christmas, just the basics, like what real estate is, why it is unique, what rights of ownership there are, types of deeds, title, what title insurance is, how property is valued, what liens and encumbrances are, how to read a legal description, what bilateral and unilateral contracts are, what is necessary in a contract, what a leasehold interest is, how settlements are accomplished and the laws surrounding transactions. 

In my limited experience I would think though that this would appear on the tax assessors website as it does with other unoccupied properties that I have looked into.Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to where to look to obtain more information on ownership of this property... town clerk's office, perhaps?

The credit partner's credit is tied up long term so they receive 50% ownership of the property.

In my opinion using debt to buy property when either combined with more debt or using 100% debt isn't a preferred method of ownership.