Regardless of my build or ability to 'defend myself against an attacker,' (as my Dad would say), doing showings is simply part of the gig.So my question is this, to all of you that must take this into consideration like myself - how do you go about doing a showing or open house in the safest way possible?

But you also risk tying up a persons property with no ability to close.Your best bet is to run your own mail and find someone off of here to work with.

If you do not have the ability to close you are not a principal to the transaction.

I have a lot of cash to start with but I think I want to finance to use leverage and have the ability to use my money to purchase 5-6 100,000 dollar homes as long as my first deal works for me.

Commercial loans should allow for renovations if it adds value (like adding more homes to the property or facilitating the ability to increase rents).

You both are bringing in a similar amount of money, credit, time, ability, motivation...?

You then  live in one apartment and have the ability to have the rent from the other apartments's rent cover your rent and maybe also be cash flowing

E.g. if my total liability risk ability is $X, I would like to have my invested capital into four such parts below the limited partnership.How do other investor go about this?

Almost every county here offers the ability to look up a property by owner name or address, then look at the property tax bill history for that property and whether or not taxes are paid/current.

I've built an impressive spreadsheet that accounts for just about everything, and it's remarkable how accurate the 50% rule is in general.