Then once I've gotten some skin in the game and some money I can go to a bank to collect some bigger deals

You are asking people to give you money and let you do everything without having any skin in the game.

This way you know they have significant "skin in the game" and will have an owner's mindset vs someone just renting who may or may not take care of the property. 

That doesn't make sense.If you think about it, the more you have to offer in the Partnership, the more you should be picky in choosing your Partner.When you bring a lot to the Table and demand every Partner have skin in the game and meet a high qualification, that should mitigate getting into a bad Partnership.Another way to think of this is to understand how large Corporation chooses their Board Members. 

I see my 'skin in the game' as the money I'm putting into the rehabs, but I don't think that will do

Maybe you need some skin in the game to get you to take action.

The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to have the basement tested for mold by a company that does only mold testing and not an abatement company.At the same time, you can send your tenant a letter warning them that they will be liable for mold testing if no harmful mold is found and you will pay for testing if any harmful mold is found.The very next thing we do is; send your tenant a certified letter telling them that if they suspect their health is at risk for any reason that relates to their rental unit then your tenant should not reside in your unit for one more minute and should move to a place they feel is safe because you will not assume liability for exacerbating their health issues, if any health issue in regards to mold exists.At this stage, all communications must be in writing and well-thought before communicating.Your situation has happened to us several times and we had a tenant who lived in a brand new unit for only 10 days and he told us he was vomiting and had nose bleeds that resulted from mold.

If you are gonna go out of state, do yourself a favor: either purchase at least class B properties that are above the median house price (not sub $100k properties) or find a boots on the ground partner (who ideally runs a property management company) and give them part ownership in exchange for managing your properties so they have skin in the game.

There is more than one way to skin a cat.If you have a long term outlook (which you should at your age), it is pretty tough to beat appreciation numbers in Los Angeles.

I have a few lenders who will straight up tell me they don't care about credit or income... all they care about is how much equity does the borrower retain (skin in the game).