If they are doing their job, they should be screening the potential tenants sufficiently to prevent most of what you described.

The above items look right, although in Dawson County you do not need a survey, a plat is sufficient, perhaps it's different in the county your client is building in though. 

So I've managed to grab 4 appointments this week (excited beyond belief). 3 of those according to the tax assessor's site are owned by "name, et. al." the question is for the contract to be valid are the signatures of the others required, or is the signature of the specifically named individual sufficient?

Sufficiently sized Umbrella policy and/or anonymity via trust ownership is a more sensible option for protecting smallish portfolios IMHO.I also agree with @Gary Wright in that it would be far more advantageous financially to just move out of state, but the wife assures me I'd be moving alone :) She like many simply aren't willing to leave the ocean and the unbelievable weather.

As long as you meet the DTI requirements 46.99/56.99 and the property meets the self sufficiency test, you can pull it off. 

You can also do 3.5% down on FHA with 2-4 Units as long as you meet the self sufficiency requirement. 75% of the rental income from the units must cover the full mortgage payment. 

With these terms, the cash from the refinance would not be sufficient to pay my HELOC.I was told that a portfolio lender may be able to loan me with different guidelines.  

It's not sufficient to simply prove that it's not connected at either end anymore?

@Eddie Gonnella  FHA is all about self-sufficiency test to count the rental income.

We plan on renting this one out when we hit 20% equity as well.The Plan: If we can get a mostly self-sufficient tenant, we will pull out some equity to use to fund the next property, which will NOT be in NOVA.