Also, estimated taxes depending on your situation if you earn regular W-2 wages that have withholding but will need to pay in estimates to cover any profits from your rentals.If you anticipate losses, make sure they are familiar with passive loss rules and the exceptions to allow you to deduct the losses.If you're talking about your parents giving you money, be sure they're familiar with gift tax laws or how to structure it to ensure you can still deduct interest payments as a mortgage rather than personal debt (you might want to get an attorney involved here).Looks like you're also considering some nontraditional financing methods, so whatever forms you're considering, ask about the treatment of the interest and debt payments related to that.  

My plan would be to 1) Convert the POH into TOH through sale of the units to tenants and just charge lot rent2) Gift the units to tenants and charge a higher lot rentBoth would reduce the expenses for property management, insurance, repairs and maintenance.

Send them Christmas gift every holiday.

If you are able to save 3.5% of a home you can get an FHA mortgage, (can be your own money or can be a gift from your parents) I would start off by purchasing a good condition 2 unit.

They could do a gift of equity for your down payment.

You are not allowed to receive what would be considered a gift in this case to meet the 5% down payment requirement.

@Gerald Marshall Mr Landlord himself, Jeffrey Taylor, recommends offering a gift at the time of renewal.  

-Asset protection and privacy from creditors in an event one has a claim against you since the contract is held in similar fashion to a trust so its not claimed on your tax returns or publicly displayed -Funds withdrawn or borrowed from the plan can be used for any purpose you can think of with out restriction -Quick access up to 95% of all funds available in the cash value relatively quick (1-2 weeks) via withdrawal or policy loan -Excluded from counting as an asset when applying for student loan or financial aid -High Contributions are allowed unlike 401k or IRA’s which have strict contribution, income limits, and rules- Death benefit creates an instant estate as of today 5.34 Million is the estate tax limit before your assessed with a 40% death/gift tax on assets over this amount

I believe that every year that is behind the tenant that they paid less then market is a gift. 

However if the partner can qualify on their own as the occupant you could go on title and you could have to work with your lender to word a Letter of Explanation for a gift to pay for down payment or closing costs and relate it to the guidelines as "close friend with a clearly defined and documented interest in the borrower"They should be able to qualify on the 3-4 unit as they can count the rents which would help the debt ratio.Best of Luck!