The co-signer request is coming from the lender and the developer feels like it would also be asked for by other lenders, the terms on this one are good, and there's no point in starting over on the loan only to end up with the same result but a different bank (and possibly less desirable terms).Again, I don't have a strong sense of what I should ask for in return for playing this role if I decide to move forward and how my participation might be structured.  

Worth & Arlington you suggested is what price are you willing to pay for the property, what rents your seeking, and what is your desired cash flow at the end of the day? 

and 2. is $50k your budget or it just sounds like a desirable price?

The trick is that you need to do the math and offer no more than what would make sense with your desired cash flow. 

Is this area considered desired for rent?

You might want to consider J Scott's "flipping formula" for the Maximum Purchase Price (the most you should buy a property for) which is as follows:MPP = Sales price - Fixed Costs - Desired Profits - Rehab Costs, whereSales Price equals the conservative estimate of what I can sell the property for (not necessarily the price I’ll list it for!).

When you've built up enough capital you can take some of the equity from the four unit and use to buy a home wherever you desire.  

It'll provide better separation and space and likely some desirable storage space.  

I know creative financing strategy exists to really serve my growth desire, but I am very interested to know how other people grow their portfolio using more "traditional" financing.

My wife and I live in Laramie as well and have similar desires of getting in to the mulit-unit game.