It would cost a lot to get the planning approval and do a complete renovation of the 2 units.Can anyone suggest what would be my options at this point?

It is a tough market and there's nothing wrong with taking a breather and waiting for things to stabilize while focusing on savings and education.

What are your investment plans moving forward?

I do not have the capital for the property to pitch in, so I plan to use the investors money to secure the property.The interest rate that I will pay the investor is 5% for up to a duration of 20 years.

I would plan to long-term rent the property from day one and would never reside in the property before renting.  

Some other factors to consider - How long are you planning to hold this property?

Excited to see where you put that equity next—what’s the plan for reinvesting? 

Firstly, you can save costs by paying your VAs directly.

I also ask if they've ever been evicted, refused to pay rent, or filed for bankruptcy.Further, I ask account numbers for their checking and savings accounts, and the approximate balances in each.

Still, I think you'd find it difficult to find one that would be a good long-term investment unless you had another ~20-30 years to go, it's at least cash neutral, and you don't plan to hold it too long (to avoid too much investment loss and before you get to the point where it's unsellable because of too few years left); that's another way of saying that maybe it suits your cash needs in the near-term or is at least less of a pill to swallow than other options until you find something that's more of a sensible long-term play