Should it simply be left in a trust and payments made to the trust? 

I assumed you'd use HELOC for down payment + another loan for the rest. that is 100% financed. 

The best deal I can find today is one that you buy cash, invest a rehab and when you pull out 75% of your ARV you leave maybe a small amount of money in the deal and you break even (BEFORE DISCOUNTING FOR VACANCY, REPAIRS, etc) Yes that means you leave like 10-25k in the deal and your payment becomes $3000/m and your rent is $3000 a month or slightly less.This is for my local market and for Class B or higher RE. 

Some gurus tell practicioners of sub-to to hide transaction from the lender by saying the lender doesn't care as long as the payments are being made.

I know there's seller finance and "B" lender that are good for the short term, but if a balloon payment is due say in 5 years, there's no guarantee that my DTI would be in a better place then I'd be stuck without funding. 

Initially they said they would make payments to me and crap like they have millions in assets, just no liquid assets. 

If there are no other red flags on the tenancy (i.e payment issues, lease defaults) I would still renew tenants (even if they are a little corky!) 

If you want to buy your first property ASAP, house hacking (duplex, triplex, or renting extra rooms) is one of the best ways to start with a low down payment while learning property management.

In this case, your monthly payment with 20% down will have a good MARKET rate if your DTI works with a much lower month payment and no mortgage insurance(MI).

Where are your fixed rate notes at and their respective monthly PITIA payments ?