Dont waste your time game-planning.

I felt like checking a little bit more so I ran a proper background check on her and was shocked to find that she has multiple felonies including jail time.

What tools or strategies are you using to stay ahead of the game?

Spending too much time on analyzing one deal will put you out of the game on too many other ones...

Given this was our first time purchasing an investment property, working with a partner on a cash deal, and understanding how to get FSBO deal completed, we had to learn a ton and ran into multiple challenges.

One tip is to start looking into meetups to connect with investors / others in the REI game (in person/online).

Since you're investing from a distance, I recommend interviewing multiple agents, lenders, property managers, contractors, and other professionals to build a strong and reliable team.

I've seen banks be very competitive with blanket loans that cover multiple properties and/or multi-family properties, e.g. 5+ units.Mortgage Brokers (obviously I'm biased) - Brokers have the ability to work with all of the above and can get you to the best lender for your scenario right away instead of having you waste your time with the wrong type of lender.

Not all VA loans are owner-occupied as the VA gives you an allotment so you can have multiple properties with VA loans depending on what they clear you for.

These can make crunching numbers a bit more difficult because due to the guessing game.