The other interesting thing here is that he owner clearly has not been paying their mortgage.  

He will only be able to fix the interest for five years as opposed to 30 on a mortgage to an LLC.

Otherwise, we see tax information and past/current mortgages taken out, which I know is public in IL, but without my MLS access, I'm not sure how someone would find that.

With $16K available, that limits you to an $80K house (which typically requires 20% down for an investment property mortgage).

I've literally never seen anyone with bruised credit due to mortgage inquiries.

People don't realize getting a mortgage is like shopping for a car! 

If we do not have another mortgage and we receive our mail there, could we get by with not living in it?

The criteria when I applied and received mine was some of the same factors as though I was applying for a regular mortgage, DTI, credit score/report, W2, paychecks etc.

Ok so I have a coworker who's looking to buy a home in the same area I've decided to invest in he's getting a mortgage in his name and asked if I would be willing to put up half the down payment and split the cash flow between the two of us has anyone done this do you have any suggestions any horror stories any success stories.

If they are separate then you can do two separate purchases with standard 30 year fixed-rate mortgages.