. - I finally said that I was going to hire a mediator, per our JV agreement if we came to a deadlock (he kept telling me I'd get paid back every month, then every week over and over again, refused to respond to my texts, calls or emails in a timely manner or at all, and refused to agree to any reasonable compensation for being so late on his loan).

you see that news ? that FHA/VA said buyer agent still has be paid seller ?In other word, if seller doesn't want to pay buyer agent and the offer is coming using FHA/VA loan, it would be automatically rejected by sell...

In your case, if the seller is not willing to sell it to you at the appraised value, then you should first express to the agent that you are willing to walk away on from the deal if there is a deadlock on the fair market value price.

I decided on a phased approach (focusing on research, moving onto analysis, action, etc.) to ensure I don't get caught in an academic deadlock. 

You should consider avoiding 50-50 as it can lead to deadlock without an easy mechanism for disputes.

Do you mean that because of the BK if I'm not able to get a release from the court I run a risk of being in deadlock without being able to do anything as a junior lender?

A deadlock of disagreeing partners can be a terrible(and costly) thing. 

I'm currently in the process of writing out my a Partner Agreement for buy and holds and would love to learn from everyone's mistakes and best practices.  For context my partner lives out of State and would be bringin...

Headaches down the road are pre-programmed otherwise.Even if it some sort of condo situation, a condo assoc. with 2 owners will probably always end up in a deadlock.

Can speak of pro's and con's with each, It's a deadlock really.