I tried, before the crash, to take 80% equity out to buy another unit but had zero luck at securing traditional funding through a bank.

Because of this, my property management is going to help with organizing the rehab, and gives me peace of mind being a boots on the ground and security in knowing I don't have some random contractor running off with my money. 

Would this be a Security issue? 

Personally, if you can't come up with a 3.5% dp for a 200K property, you are not ready to buy a house yet....I feel that if you can't come up with 20% it's the same, but if you have stable income in a secure field, the 3.5% down payment may be worth the risk.

My current dilemma is deciding if I should get licensed in Maryland or DC first -g ranted I will ultimately apply for a reciprocal license.

It sounds like this would be considered a personal loan, secured against the house.

For me it is about seeing some of the speakers live which is worth the price of admission (Tony Robbins, Tim Draper, Grant Cordone etc).

We recently secured a property in hopes of finding a money partner, with us being the working partner.

Wouldn't it make more sense to get the pre-approval first that way when he identifies the target property and puts an offer in he can tie it up, do 14 or 21 day loan contingency and use that time to secure the loan?

All security deposits held by the seller are transferred to the buyer at the time of closing.