It entails: getting educated, networking, building your team and taking action.

Learning all of that ahead of time will save you a bazillion headaches and potential financial strain later!

I have statements from his old contractors  telling how much the contractor still owes us, but didn’t know if that was enough to pursue legal action.

What specifically do you plan to do to force appreciation, and therefore possibly increase rents, and therefore property value and overall financial performance?

They will take a percentage of anything they collect and there's no guarantee they will collect anything.An attorney may be able to assist you with collection action via wage garnishment or bank account garnishment.

I like the financials of duplexes, but I'm open to the right single family opportunities.Looking forward to hearing from you all.

It really doesn't matter which one of you signs the agreement because you will both be liable for the actions of the other.

If you don’t want to take the time to learn the number inside and out and you only want  to make money by flipping then you can partner with a flipper and or be the financial partner who still make good money.  

Not knowing your personal financial situation, I would go for a buy and hold or owner financing.

Turnkey properties don’t make any sense financially, there’s very minimal returns.