The partners are the skilled craftsmen that we invite to become full-time owners of the company in exchange for their services.

A reasonably skilled handyman and a new doorknob should do just fine.

One of your "requirements" is going to have experience and turning in your loan application minimum requirements is to turn in an organized loan application.  

What is your experience to keep everything well organized?

Probably lean towards TX as you can get some skills in management and when it comes time to move, you will know what you are looking for as far as what a management company should do for you.

Connect with rehabbing and other investors in my area that could use a skilled carpenter on their team. 3.

This will be a major topic addressed at the Summit that @Al Williamson is organizing.  

If you are looking for someone to professionally set up your organization, including all papper work involved and public notices, I have a lawyer that does top notch work for very resonable fees.

However, to buy my first one I may need to drop 20% for the down payment if it's a SFR (since I couldn't use an FHA loan).Doing that will almost wipe out my current cash reserves, which means it will be a slow grind back to another 20k or so (probably 10-12 months).Conversely, I suppose I could try the fix and flip strategy to earn some cash at a faster rate, and then be able to buy more rentals at once, but I am more averse to this strategy because I lack the requisite knowledge/skills/tools for rehab and because it seems a bit more risky going into a potentially problematic property (obviously any property could be problematic but with a fix and flip you KNOW there are going to be problems).So I guess what I'm looking for are some thoughts as to the most intelligent way to utilize my current cash reserves (about 20 - 25k) in a way that doesn't immediately stunt my growth but also with respect to my risk tolerance and knowledge/skills (or lack thereof).

You have the right mindset and skills.