My wife and I live in south Charlotte with 3 little kids and love to get out and travel. 

He wants to buy the property himself but he says needs about 1 year to clean his credit record to get a loan.

Private money will do it sometimes, depending on the deal and your track record.

Buying at top of the market with no track record of knowing what to do "when" not "if " unexpected expenses pop up could likely hurt bad.

I have stopped answering phone calls and resorted only to written communication (for my records) but have noticed a pattern of very emotional and aggressive behavior from this tenant (as well as extremely unreasonable expectations about what the timeline is to have something fixed).

You just need to keep a record of all contributions and distributions in the capital account ledger of each members.

Hello,I have heard and seen many different responses / information to the following question, and hope a CPA or an experienced professional in the topic can shine some light on this:"Can you write off travels to / from if you are traveling only to view properties and meet with a property owner / real estate Investor / etc.?"

I set up the account, put the money in it and mail a copy of the deposit documentation to the tenant (for their records).

You will want to ensure that title is recorded properly to avoid title / probate problems in the future. 

I haven't read through all of these posts, but it looks like all of the refi advice has revolved around institutional lending and the 2 year track record typically required for that debt.You have another option.