Real estate transactions are only worth the paper they're written on, as you have found.  

Type up a piece of paper that says punch list on it and hand it to prospective buyers?

Ok so I am new to REI but have had a couple things close..all with the help of a JV partner who is a broker/investor them self..I have a website which I advertise my business on craigslist and other places which got me 1 that we wholesaled..and found a vacant property we tracked down the owners daughter to and that one wholesaled and then had a person who sells me leads sell us a probate one and that got wholesaled...my partner does all the work as in paper and title/contract/closing ..all of it..im basically bringing the deals and doin the foot work and im a ghost on contract..we split 50/50 ..the money has been great but im to a point where its not enough for me to make my own moves..so rather than waiting for people to call me im looking for REOs and foreclosures and looking for ones that have big equity gaps and when i find one i want to get it then either wholesale or rehab it and do this a few times taking little chunks of money and saving it until i get a goal of 50k...my problem is the money part..i can use my partners private money who is asking 12%annual interest and the money wants 50% of profits ..which would leave the other 50% for me and my partner to split and id probably stay being a ghost and being quiet OR do I just go get my own hard money loan and break away from him and start taking all the risk...no risk no reward i get it but if i continue to do it the way i been doing it then i'll be little more on easy street until my goal is met.  1 down side is time..i think my partner is treats me more like a option rather than a priority which I understand but I dont get questions and things done as fast as i think they should get handled. what do you guys think?

Put it on paper as a court will not honor a verbal contract. 

This debt is only worth the paper it's written on.  

War zones are nightmares from what I have read and not worth the sweet on paper cashflow.  

Just to give you an idea of what can be accomplished through real estate I became a millionaire at least on paper within 18 months of getting started with real estate but it was my lack of knowledge, education, and resources that also lead to me losing everything just as quickly.

Yes in some states and maybe more and more there will be some cracking down on wholesalers that inadvertently do wholesaling, use paper work, market and say things that brings them under the legal radar and many are getting caught and fined in court. 

I tried my best for about a year and I finally had to throw in the towel.

The out of state investors ate it up even though on paper the deals didnt make sense,  Most have been foreclosed on and for some reason there are still a few lingering around where the foreclosures have not gone through yet (foreclosures that should have started in 2008 or 2009)2 of these buildings individual investors have been able to gain complete control of -- One in fact has his for sale right now - it needs some work but is 8 or 9 stories with a parking garage for $850k if I recall.