We thought a simple transfer of the down payment to me or the business would work but it appears it would incur a gift tax.

Start setting up appointments and put houses under contract (this can be a simple one page contract that shows who's buying, who's selling, the address, the amount, any other terms, and signatures.

This house makes money not as a simple flip, but needs a full gut, and probably a second floor addition.

Specifics such as do you all setup an LLC between each other, simple partnership paperwork, etc. and if you go for funding is it easy to apply with 3 or 4 people on it ?

I would say the process is pretty simple, but not necessarily easy.

Simple Steps to Protest your taxes. 1.

The second recommendation would be to do a house flip with a special and your able to move there and be a "house hacker" and take advantage of the lower down payment.The only other way away from home is to buy an apartment complex that had a minimum of 30 units so that project could afford property management company from that local area, they need to be experienced and understand what you expect in reporting and current operation with phone talking. 

Any good bobcat operator could easily remove that severely cracked up driveway with minimal root destruction .

They also operate at a macro level that it matters.

The $100 loan (from each investor) would be a business loan directly to you, under the following terms:1 - 10% simple interest.