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.

You are giving your large asset (a house) to someone you've never met, with minimal if any down payment, ad no verification of identity.

The issue for them is time.So partnering on deals is a great way to overcome the minimal capital investment.