As mentioned by others, you cannot personally guaranty the loan and the limited recourse aspect navigates that requirement.

The loans were varied and some were able to close sooner than others and they wanted to close before the others but we held out because we needed to close all of them at the same time to avoid any last minute standoffs or complications.

More than likely, the loan officer on your file either A) didnt know their own product very well, or B) glossed over this aspect in order to get the loan to closed due to a lack of integrity. 

He was trying to avoid increasing his annual income which was already high from his W2 job.Thanks!

If you hired an agent or a broker to work with you, you'd be covered - but regulations & laws vary from place to place.Screening is best done by establishing a set of guidelines to qualify applicant tenants, then sticking to those rules to avoid legal issues (and for your own sanity).

And you avoid things like damaged properties (guest insurance from airbnb or prop manager themselves cover that), evictions, collections, etc.   

What are some pros that I can highlight from the seller’s perspective.Here are a few that I’ve come up with:1) monthly income at a higher interest rate;2) avoiding a larger tax bill by reducing the purchase price (on paper);3) a promissory note that they could potentially sell down the road.Any other major ones I am missing?

I wouldn't mess with your index funds if you can avoid it. 

I tried to set up quickbooks online, but without paying $720 a year for the ability to do class tracking, it seems like it wouldn't be as beneficial.I know there are other tools out there more geared towards real estate like xero, etc, but I'm still trying to avoid paying so much every month.Has anybody used realtyzam or rentalhero (rentalhero.io) they seem to be linked? 

That said, I completely understand your concern about deals looking "too good to be true" when you’re putting in 50% down.To avoid this, it’s best to analyze properties as if you were using more traditional financing (20-25% down).