It also has a very nice 1 bed basement apartment that we could use to help supplement the mortgage, & we could potentially rent out both spaces when we leave.My dad is a lawyer (he does not specialize in real estate though) and it would not be too difficult to structure things however we needed to.

During this time there has been partially functioning heat which the tenant supplemented with space heaters.

I will be moving to a more expensive market and my VA loan won't be of much use to me there.My long term goal is to establish enough passive income in retirement (supplementing my military retirement) to give me flexibility at that point in my life. 

Are there any supplements that would help me prepare and better understand the material in lamest terms?

You're not going anywhere with only 200k/year, but you can grow that 200 into a much larger repeating amount...that you can supplement every year with an added 200k. 

InvestorMint real estate investing company reviews could be a great resource for you to supplement the due diligence and discussions you conduct on these same companies on BiggerPockets.

They cover the broken item, but not the damage that the broken item caused.HVAC not cooling (x2) (older units) - Replaced with new after 2 attempts to repair were unsuccessful (only 1 $65 trip charge assessed on each one since it is the same issue within a 30 day period).Garage door not opening - replaced broken spring and rollers (we had some supplemental cost in this, but not the whole bill. 

By this time we will have a couple of passive income streams from sources outside of real estate and can supplement our income with the real estate income. 

Looking for $40-60k Single family homes to purchase (that requires low to moderate renovation, depending on the price), paying it off before purchasing another, with a goal of buying 1 property per year to startI want to build a passive income portfolio to supplement my income, buy enough rentals to replace my income and hopefully retire early.

We do have supplemental heat in the bathrooms in those units in the form of 36" hydronic baseboards which the tenants can control themselves.