The 6 months is for those that do not have any exemptions tied to it and up to 2 years for those that do (homestead, military, disabled, etc.) .  

My personal finances are tied up my first BRRRR right now, but through my local REIA I met a dude who wanted to partner up.

Landlords eventually get sued, and, from a liability standpoint, you don't want your leasing entity to own any real assets that could be tied up in a lawsuit.Honestly, I would encourage you to have the property professionally managed, so this wouldn't even be an issue. 

I couldn’t swing 25% down on this as I have most of my cash tied up in another deal.

This means you're potentially going to be totally out of the market and tied up for some extended period of time before you can even start working on the deal.Find a private lender or partner, make your offer, inspect it, etc but don't fall in love with this deal and be ready to move on quick if it doesn't work out.

I understand that this is so the numbers don't get muddied, tying up funds from one partnership up into another partnership.

I would like to find deals asap, however, I don't want to be tied down to the area I currently live in (suburbs of Chicago) and would like to start in a different state.

So volatility is high versus private options which are not tied directly to the stock market cycle (but instead tied to the real estate financial cycle and the business cycle).A bigger issue is that you also pay a premium for that daily liquidity and so for example, the amount you receive as a distribution will be much lower than the equivalent as a private investment.2) Private REIT.

I was able to tie my sewer into the mainline from my house.

The last thing an owner in foreclosure needs is a newbie wholesaler tying up their property with a contract, not being able to flip it and walking away when they have no time to sell it to a real buyer.