What are your thoughts in terms of the risk I am taking on? 

No reason for them to take on that risk for zero reward.

Your partner will take some risk so make sure know to keep it honest.

So maybe your sale gets overturned due to the fact that it should have been stayed / postponed.But these are the sorts of things that YOU should have identified BEFORE you placed your bid at that TCB sale; if you don't have all the answers at hand in advance, you put your money at risk.

So, If i cut some nice to haves out  I may be able to save 10k, but then I risk not getting as much on resaleThat would put my MAO at 103k.  

So the thing you need to worry about is, if the property is making enough to compensate you for the risk taken, that is it covers the debt payment and some return on your capital. 

I have heard that with rentals, there is a lot of risk if you go as a private owner versus as an LLC.

I'm very passionate about real estate and what I do, and what I do, importantly, makes sense financially (I'm a great credit risk!)

I prefer tax or county foreclosures because it’s usually the senior most lien except federal liens.Obviously foreclosures carry higher risks, therefore may offer higher returns.

I work full time at a non-profit for at-risk inner city teens.