Brady, At the moment property 1 is P&I but once I buy property 3 I'll change that back to IO.
The Perth property I went half with a friend(only problem so far is we have to swop master bedroom every 6 months so its fair), the plan was hold it for 5 years until the loan goes P&I then either one of us buy the other out or sell it and move on.
As for difficulties it was a lot easier than I thought getting a joint loan, but I will be keeping the properties in Adelaide with a different bank than the one I have the joint account with.