Focus on the numbers and the goals, not personal feelings.

And does the person doing the labor get paid or only the materials paid for by the partnership?

Don't spend time looking for something that doesn't exist. also in the US you cannot sue the police.. unless its a direct assault on your person. your wasting your time.. 

I would personally roll the dice on the rental and see where it gets me if you don't have to sell at this moment. 

These homes are in my personal name right now.  

To Sum it up, its a good idea if you can exceed the cost of capital (higher rate than your cost of debt) with what you earn on your heloc/debt you pull out and invest.The question is how much gains above is enough to substantiate the risk of your variable interest rate, well thats up to your personal investing criteria.

Personally I think there are good loans out there but people look for the "perfect" loan that fits their buy box and meets a desired return - which the return is going to be based on risk.So for many you cannot have your cake and eat it too. thoughts?

So why is the $2,500mnth person paying $250 and the other one paying $350 ??????

I will caution you that if they pull something like this and you immediately start offering any concessions as is repeatedly addressed above - this type of personality will make note of that and the threats will be ongoing for the duration of their tenancy.

@Dustin Horner you should be contracting maintenance work and creating a preferred list of vendors as @Phillip Austin has recommended.The first person you hire to help you should be to handle what you LEAST like to do yourself or has the greatest time savings for you!