I am a non-confrontational person by nature and it has taken me time to grow a thicker skin.

Take a weekend and drive around.....lots of natural attractions and cool little mining and cowboy towns. 

My natural inclination would be to use commissions to reduce prices and avoid taxation or split 50 50.

On some, I purchased and then renovated years later, or renovated over time, or lived in them / renovated over time / and sold them tax free, and they naturally appreciated as expected from purchasing in growing areas, and they went through spurts of larger appreciation...everything stacks over time (if you're invested).

You rock!

It seems to be the most natural outcome, expenses go up, property value goes up, income is going up, (specific to Austin) wouldn't it make sense that rents will go up as well?

Mother Nature has no respect for your plans so all you can do is design around her. 

It provides extra coverage if the price of labor and materials goes up substantially, perhaps after a natural disaster. 

Many mentor-mentee relationships grow naturally like this.I can also give you advices and a lot more, just connect with me!

The nature of many deals won't make sense at anything less than 25% down.