You might have to allocate depreciation, amortization in a different manner for tax compared to book purpose.

The purpose of the earnest deposit is to prove you intentions to close with the seller.

We feel she purposefully lied and told us the higher amount. 

My purpose in doing this would be to save their $400/mth in my savings account so I'll have money for when I eventually need repairs/don't have the unit rented out.

He has simply borrowed money from his plan, which is treated as personal funds for the purpose of the investment.

The biggest factor in credit score is on time payments and you are purposely not having those in this scenario.  

Obviously I would not be claiming the charges as business expenses for tax purposes and the interest is a non-issue since I pay the balance of each month. 

It may be important to realize that you have created general partnerships for federal income tax purposes, as such, and unless you elect out under one of the limited exceptions, what you're doing falls under the purview of Subchapter K of the Internal Revenue Code.The 1065 deadline is March 16th.If you have the economies of scale, it may make a lot of sense to onboard a professional at this point. 

It is not doing great. 6 months ago, I got an offer to sell my house to a developer (which I purposely bought in a developing area).

LLC are supposed to be tax neutral.Regarding asset protection, OH has good charging order protection for LLC.As a general rule, in most case it is better to open an LLC in the State where the property is.If that State does not offer good charging order protection; it is suggested to open an holding LLC in WY where the charging order protection are excellent; This holding LLC will be the single member of the other LLC.You can elect to have your LLC taxed in many different way (pass through, partneship, S or C).Single member LLC by default are pass through entity for tax purposes and are not filing any returns.