., disregarded entity] therefore reporting LLC activity on their joint tax return.

My lease says that the tenants are jointly and severally liable for the rent.

Joint existing long standing REIA groups.My gig is buy and hold.  

Through handshake (or elbow bump), Joint Venture, etc.?

Turnover will be much higher and more hassle will arise.If you do it, make sure they know each other... and make sure there’s a lead tenant that you deal with and draft all of them on the same lease, so they’re jointly responsible for all rent. 

An 8 unit deal is likely better to have a joint partnership arrangement with a few investors. 

That is why, when dealing with apartments, it is important to take care of the exterior repairs at the SAME TIME of updating vacant units acquisition so that you catch the attention of candidate tenants driving by and get vacant units filled up as quickly as possible.Again, when buying an investment property expect a healthy ROI, but there will be some years that you will need to feed the property cash to keep it alive.      

I am looking for more creative ways to roll the proceeds into (perhaps in different geography and may be different type of real estate).Are there any real estate funds that I can buy a share of in order to (1) complete 1031 exchange and (2) be able to have tax benefits associated with owning real estate such as deducting depreciation and expenses from joint tax returns?

If it was your primary residence for 2 of the last 5 years and your married and file jointly you could pay 0.

You can't really have a silent partner - joint ventures require each partner to be active in the deal.