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

At the risk of sounding like a real estate agent irritated at competition ... don't sell your house to Open Door or Zillow!

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

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). 

@Michael Kagan, I always tell people who ask that buying San Francisco apartments is a game of regulations, sweat equity, and you need to have a thick skin and patience.

Both lenders, particularly the conventional mortgage lender want the borrower/buyer to have personal capital “skin in the game” invested in the transaction3. 100% financing, if obtainable, usually result in negative cash flow, which means capital out of pocket from the owner each monthThat being said, “nothing down” purchases are done, but this depends on the definition of “nothing down”.