Get your feet wet, see if you enjoy being a landlord. 

I am looking for a house to live in myself and sell for a profit/rent after 3/4 years (get my feet wet, learn and then apply those lessons to future investments).

I was just happy that I finally took a step and got my toe wet in something.

Why don't you just invest with him to get your feet wet. 

The plan also calls for like 5 wet bars, there are places in the house they dont need to be, also the spot designated for the kids beds has 2 bathrooms, I dont see why its cant be one shared by two doors...Things like that are what me and my builder are going to try and change to get the budget down, raise money to not have to take that large of a loan out, maybe sell 2 rentals since I dont want to give much equity away,,,,These are all pieces of the puzzle I am working to figure out.

It’s got studs on 24”, weird siding material that is basically sawdust and glue that doesn’t hold paint and blows up and turns to mush if it gets wet, a cheap slab foundation combined with expansive soil that has cracked the foundation, the layout is 80’s split-level (outdated and hard to change), the windows are crap, the roof is crap, the insulation is crap, and the hvac was set up all wrong with no air returns on some of the levels, not enough registers and returns… it’s what they now call a “sick house” for that reason (poor indoor air quality due to badly designed ventilation system). 

"Wet" and "dry", you are trying to do a dry double closing in which you are attempting to use the end investors money to fund the purchase to double close.

Him and I are anxious to get our feet wet, but obviously want to avoid making any major mistakes.

@Chris Davis Very Inspiring to us, still waiting to get our feet wet. 

While I use plywood, wet plywood can demonstrate some of the problems MDF is known for.One advantage Formica had is that it's not that hard to change.