I would appreciate any advice you may have on making this happen while protecting my money. 

Do they pay the mortgage via your payments, Do you make the payments to the lender.. if the payments go to the seller how can you protect yourself in the event that the seller stops making the payments to the mortgage and you don't lose the property?

Easy and gives the applicant/tenants and me a layer of protection.

I see people lose house all the time for not paying their property taxes.Sell the house to pay off debt before you lose it.Bankruptcy protection will not stop loss of property for unpaid taxes.

I would think that if the housing market dropped by 50%, you are protected in the form of having your tenants pay your mortgage, even if it is underwater. 

Be sure that your contractor is licensed, bonded, and insured in order to protect yourself.

I’ve heard about self managing owners creating alias cards or introducing themselves as the “property manager” using a pseudo name for identity protection.

Just a thoughtMy economic reviews of Austin indicate we are very well protected from any major economic downturn.

This is to protect your investment.

Demand, location, positive cash flow whether you are financing it or not, area growth, amenities, repairs, seller motivation, is it in a flood plane  economical pluses or minuses, property age, layout, historical issues, future projections, neighborhood issues, weather issues that are negative or positive, distance from an existing public protection, if provided, storage area, and property taxes.