Anyway when I file taxes next year I realize I'll be claiming 100% of the income on my taxex, but I had planned on adding his portion of the profit as a loss on my schedule E, perhaps as a management expense.

If I do a private loan, would that be an unsecured loan or is there a way after the property is purchased to tie it to this loan so they have extra security?

She has no problem paying the security deposit and passing a background check (I’ll check up on these). 

Want to possibly ask for more of security deposit with this new baby as we all know kids and the damage they cause to rentals. 

But from all of that  I do know that buy and hold is the direction I want to go in for the long-termI work full time and would like to continue working while investing, credit is not a problem for me so am sure I can secure a loan but money down is what I am working on for my very first rental.

@Bill Baldwin You may want to file a formal complaint with the state licensing board as well as the board of realtors in the area.

My tax accountant is telling me that we still need the break-down of the income and expense by property to file the partnership return.

Its  courageous step and seems like you secure yourself financially before  jump in as full time Investors.  

However, an enrolled agent mentioned that the "trust" will have to file a tax return as well as the LLC, but he wasn't sure.

You put it under contract to secure the deal.