One guy has 2 German Shepherds; its a relatively small place with a small yard, he travels and would have a roomate stay with him, in a band and has a lot of musical equipment, etc... and the other couple asked me about house parties, smoking, and how many people I would allow to say in the house at any given time. 

I've shared my thoughts and investing history with them and started getting positive feedback about wanting to partner in future deals.Here's my question:How do I make the leap from being equal equity partners to a syndication where I supply the deal and knowledge and the down payment is supplied by the partners?  

Do the best you can with the inspection, just know that depending on how hot the fire got, how much smoke was in the house and how long, where exactly the fire went, etc can end up causing a lot of unseen damage. 

EDIT - your lender would supply a pre-approval or pre-qualification letter that usually will work as proof of funds, but you still need a financing contingency because the lender can still say "no" to funding a deal they don't like. 

I have never borrowed from a HML, although I will later on this year.I, too, would love to borrow as much as possible, BUT I try to put myself in the HML's shoes...If I am a HML and someone with very limited or no flipping experience asks for 100% funding, I would not do it even if it were a smoking hot deal.

if u seen the movie 'Limitless' it sould resonate with the psyche of how i believe our society is conditioned into a delusionally bipolar'grass is greener' mindet where we are either very happy/successful, otherwise we are down in a ditch waiting for the next opportunity to get back up there and be ecstatically happy and successful in the future.what about incremental. to me, that's how savings and investment actually materialize. heck, the very word itself 'invest' should encompass the fundamental of not consuming today in order to have more tomorow. i myself have times when i am broke but thats almost always right after a close where i invested than liquidated. my final thoughts are practically nobody on BP is living in the horrid shantytowns of any continent for matter where they are living in starving conditions with no food/water available on a daily basis nor having nothing to call their own other than the clothes on their back. such is the case out there for some large portion of some 8 BILLION humans on this planet. many, many if not most people out there all over the world don't own anything at all except the clothes they are wearing right now. likewise, many/most people on this planet don't have a practically endless supply of food so they dont go hungry. here in northamerica, luckly even homeless folks if there hungry can simply find out where the nearest 'soup kitchen' is and get a wholesome meal on a daily basis indefinitely. we have so many resources at our fingertips that it is so easy to start saving up 100s of dollars a month even based on minimum wage (whereas a family overseas living in rural areas with no local jobs other than living off the land, as is the majority of situations across the globe, may be lucky to even make $100 a YEAR!).

@Larswin Mendoza, you should check local laws because some municipalities have specific limitations such as rent control or prohibitions against smoking on the property.  

-Remove and cap a washing machine hook up in the 1st floor kitchen-Add a washer supply and drain to the new 1st floor laundry room -Install a new shower diverter with controls in the second floor shower-Add a supply and a drain for the second floor dish washer. 

I would pay market or above price for properties that were long term hold if I had an excess supply of capital.  

A house with a basement is fairly easy to do.Turn off and Drain the water from supply lines usually by cutting the pipes in a couple of strategic places in the basement.