Considering joining and looking for any reviews or recommendations if the program is legit and worthwhile?

If the partner was only a capital partner and had no involvement with the build would a 50:50 split be worthwhile for the capital partner? 

The 50% rule - in my opinion- is used solely as a quick back of napkin calculation to determine if it is worthwhile to do more investigating of a property. 

How do I go about finding the best banks or companies to get pre-approvals and is it worthwhile to get multiple?

Absolutely, go to college and get a worthwhile degree, especially if you have a free ride!!!!

However, with the rates and conditions of any triplexes and fourplexes we could find (we did find one, but it's in the Pendleton Heights suburb of KCMO, so we were worried about it being too dangerous of an area), we were wondering if it's worth it to buy a duplex and rent out the other half to help pay the mortgage, or if it's more worthwhile to rent an apartment and try to save up to buy a residential or commercial MFH later?

The reason I say this is that with a 5+ unit a lender will evaluate based on NOI and a cap rate, so adding a 5th unit COULD (or could not) substantially increase the value of the building and make it worthwhile to refinance and pay off the existing loan (that is tied to the "old" quad) anyway.

The tax lien is $37k, I figured the terms we very generous but with it being my first deal, I wanted to make sure it was a worthwhile endeavor for a potential partner investor. 

I am very cautious about stuff like this but if i find anything interesting or worthwhile considering I can let people know.

It very well could become a large enough investment to be worthwhile, also solving for "unexpected emergencies ", for the most part and would an easy self management situation if you were to live onsite in one of your connected townhomes.