We never waited for something to happen, we were constantly following up and staying up on top of things.

He only wants to be a silent partner who infuses the initial purchase capital.My thoughts were to open a joint account where both of us are required to sign prior to any withdrawals and use that on the new mortgage application.  

@Pradeep Nagaraja, Are you looking to Joint Venture?

If stairs will be covered and it diesnt matter cosmetically, you can cut offending tread out several inches away from spindles, glue and screw a 6" wide plywood scab under the joint, and install new tread. 3" of the scab will go under existing piece of tread and new tread will sit atop the other 3".

That being said if you really want to start and cannot reasonably do it elsewhere then go to plan B where you look at houses and markets constantly until you find a deal that at least meets the 1% rule.

Upon death of one spouse on jointly held property, the surviving spouse usually gets full ownership (subject to pre-existing liens and encumbrances, of course).

This quote was for grinding into the mortar joint and setting the flashing deep into the bricks.

That will give you an idea of how they spend their money so you can see if they are constantly buying stuff or have healthy spending habits(yes you can legally ask for bank statements).

Joint venture agreement. 

We presented every information and they would constantly hit us with more information we needed last minute.