However, to my understanding, there is a significant tax burden (whether that be estate or gift tax) on this transfer/gift, since non-resident aliens do not enjoy the same large exclusions as US citizens and permanent residents.Question: What is the best method to transfer this property from the non-resident alien parents to their US citizen child, without incurring a tax burden (or, at the least, minimizing the burden)?

With regular operating businesses there isn't many options to truly shelter income from tax, only structuring things to maximize things like the 199A deduction and minimizing Self Employment tax.There is no magic bullet to wipe out tax by buying real estate, still takes the proper situation and planning for it to make an impact.

My experience has been that screening is the biggest factor in minimizing my expenses (turn, vacancy, damage, maintenance). 

Appreciate both direct answers and general pointers/advice on how to minimize the errors.

KC does offer a nice balance of stability with minimal holding cost though.

The cost in minimal compared to closing costs on your loan and taxes for example and we can’t even avoid those things.

You can do it as risky and hands-on as you want, or minimal risk with less hands-on...and everything in between.

I suppose some of my reservations stem from trying to mitigate the downside risk as much as possible, considering it'll be my first foray into real estate, and there will be a little more room for error by minimizing expenses before the units are rented. 

Since your out of pocket with the VA program is minimal, these properties will get you much better loan paydown over time.

This will just minimize the time and effort involved with opening and managing another account.