.  :(  At the time, we thought that was a smart move to basically defer our gains/short term income in the interest of having a paid off property in 10 years.  

Also if you run other businesses, a different structure might be more helpful.Currently, seeing that the corporate tax rate was lowered significantly, depending on how much profit you want to reinvest in the business, an actual corporation may have some benefits as well.I'll say that generally an S-Corp would be the way to go, but there may be situations that make a corporation tempting.Be sure to work with a CPA that knows your specific situation.

However we are wondering what, if any, tax benefits may arise from putting both of our wives on (or leaving them off) and splitting things in 25% increments?  

If you want to live in the house and title it in your name you get tax benefits upon sale (if occupied 2 years as your primary residence 250K if single and 500K if married) gains are tax exempt.

However, with all the knowledge I gained I'm still hesitant to get my feet wet.

Suddenly the unsafe reputation they had gained vanished when the buildings were rehabbed and people began to pay more to live there.  

My brother lives in Dublin and he tells me really good things about how the city is growing and properties are gaining value.

sharing of revenue profits or lossessharing of capital gains or lossesis any payment to be made to either other than as share of profits, eg for ongoing serviceswill the participants be operating a ‘salary/dividend split’ – ie taking their month by month requirements by way of low salary, balance as dividends?

That will leave me with $30,000 in "boot" which I'm assuming I will pay capital gains tax on. 

Part of the appeal of this property is the fact that it's relatively close to me as well as the potential for capital gains 10, 20 years down the line.