They like doing that instead of selling and make a few hundred k a year and stay out on the golf course.    

Theres literally hundreds, if not thousands, of potential combinations of codes that could easily be over looked and really turn and bite you later.

I've overseen hundreds of their bids/repairs and they knock it out of the park!

There are a lot of people (some on this forum) who will try to scare you into thinking that Airbnb is being shut down all across the globe and that you will have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines if you list your property.

In my opinion, you may be saving a few hundred dollars by taking the deed in lieu versus finishing the foreclosure. it would be worth finishing it to me to have the security of knowing all liens behind it are wiped out.

You have to purchase at least as much real estate as you sell and use all of the net proceeds if you want to fully defer all tax.Within all of this could be a hundred variations or possibilities depending on your specific situation. 

Your friend should speak with an attorney and CPA.There are legal and tax consequences to him quit-claiming 50% of the property to you.If he was my client, just reading the limited facts and circumstances here, I might advise him that it would be better to retain full ownership and just pay you a monthly property management fee.Larger apartment complex....in CA....50%....is your friend aware he might be giving you hundreds of thousands of dollars right off the bat? 

If you have a loan you need to weigh what it would cost you to hold for longer vs. what you save in cash flow with the rate that is a few hundred BPS lower at 6 months vs. 90 days.  

I read on the news regularly about developers spending millions of dollars to build a few hundred units and in most cases, the jurisdictions and residents killing off multifamily projects that developers want to build. 

I watch legitimate youtubers who are willing to share what they know with the public, and have taken hundreds of pages of notes about rental property investing and more recently wholesaling.