You don't want to get all the way to the closing table to find this out. 

The bar is to the left and with a 5:00pm arrival, we should be early enough to secure a high top table for the group, and in plenty of time to take advantage of happy hour specials from 4-6pm.See you Tuesday, September 20th at 5pm.Many of the charming attendees from Round 1 are pictured below.

But I hesitate at the idea of buying a larger home in today's market because it feels like another mountain climb is occurring, and I prefer to buy in a valley.

Isn't there risks on both sides of the table when using this closing procedure?

Bring a viable deal to the table and you will have investors interested.

We have 5 properties in the mountains, upstate NY that we rent by the night and week, year round. 

I would agree with @Daniel Huang Partnership % split is based on what each partner brings to the table such as experience, who found the deal, cash, credit, time involved etc.  

However, I don't know how well, if even possible, you could negotiate with a bank on a short sale/foreclosure.But if, while I'm looking at different properties, I can make note of how long it's been on the market and bring it up in the discussions, I want to be a least minimally educated about the average time on the market so I don't get laughed off the negotiating table.

Ask yourself what are you unique skills that you bring to the table?

This hits home for me, because the literal mountain of info there is to ingest and avenue to get there.