You will meet people from different walks of life that will give you different perspectives on real estate investing.

What if one or more partner decides they want to cash out their equity and walk away?

You should be going to real estate investor meetups as much as possible and you will walk into partners and friends over time.

again, not shopping on Zillow - but actually walking properties. 

Good contractors don't walk off jobs and they can justify their bid with a written estimate showing cost of materials and labor so you can compare it with any other bid.

Perhaps not the best example, but  what you are doing is no different than a medical patient who walks into 6 doctors offices with a broken finger asking to be treated with radiation.

That way you're not locked into the deal without getting an estimate and if the rehab budget comes in higher than $65k you can easily walk away- make sure the assignment says EMD is refundable if you do decide to walk.The 70% rule is a great rule of thumb.

People want to live close to areas like Ohio City, Tremont and Lakewood, but they don't want to pay the huge rents in those areas so a lot of renters will live in neighborhoods like these that are within walking distance to those neighborhoods, but a lot less rent. 

Purchase price: $1,435,000 Cash invested: $3,010,600 Sale price: $8,400,000 We identified multiple lots around the light rail system in WA, where we felt that properties are going toincrease in value significantly, these lots were re-zoned from SFH to multi-family (MUR35mostly), we have developed, permitted and starting to build: 8849 Midvale Ave N, Seattle – Two combined lots, zoned for multifamily where we built 12 townhomes 23007 55th Ave W, Mountlake Terrace – 7 townhouses in a walking distance from thelight rail station, in planning stages with the city of Mountlake Terrace, WA

I would literally go out, pick a neighborhood, and walk door 2 door knocking.