You just have to find enough good deals and this is where people usually fail.

Painters are usually cheap if you shop around

I don't know what kind of 'creative' things you are doing but you are usually better off with the bank loan. 

You can usually find the owner of a property through tax records and/or the county deed register.

Banks usually like cookie cutter mortgages so find someone that knows how to work creatively.Consider a private mortgage. 

When it gets to this point it is usually better to either (a) not renew the lease or (b) introduce a new property manager and start a fresh relationship.    

Once a few people start flipping in an area, it usually isn't long before others get in.

There aren't a ton of multi-family properties in my area and if there are, they are usually in sketchy parts of town.

If you have one of the major financial institutions (Fidelity, Schwab, Merryl Lynch, Wells Fargo, etc.) setup your plan then they as custodian will limit your investment choices to that of their offerings, usually stocks, mutual funds and bonds.

And then have a separate policy just for liability.That would normally make no sense because it's usually cheaper to bundle things.