Our company is a multimember LLC taxed as partnership (alabama) does this mean we must pay ourselves as employees instead of draws.

Sec. 1.179-4(e) explains the placed in service date as:“the time that property is first placed by the taxpayer in a condition or state of readiness and availability for a specifically assigned function, whether for use in a trade or business, for the production of income, in a tax-exempt activity, or in a personal activity.” 

How do partnerships work in the real estate investing world?

So you either need to cement it as friendship or as a buisness partnership.

I have a historical commercial building under contract on the downtown square of my hometown in Texas.  It needs significant rehab, but I feel like I'm buying it right and it's in the path of growth.  I'd like to buy ...

Clauses that will help us to increase liability protection and protect assets are top of mind, as well as any caveats related to having a 50/50 partnership. 

I do this type of partnership all the time, but if I was only going to get 20% for putting my name on the loan, I'd need to have my head examined.

Buffalo, ROC, Niagra, Syracuse, Utica and Binghamton are functionally the same investments.

Could they go up further.... sure, but I think that would be more of a function of interest rates then supply demand.  

I would try to connect with the owners, maybe volunteer your time a few weekends to work as part of the service staff and see how their operation functions.