How do individuals you don't know gain access to a set of keys they can copy or leave doors unlocked? 

The deal is almost in the purchase price.I used to work for institutional asset management and equities and alternative investments do have a place in your investment sphere but for me, real estate has been the only thing that allows me to "not work" when I don't want to.I do also take advantage of solo 401k which allow you to put 50k+ per individual tax deductible every year so I am still heavily invested in the market. 

The realtor was able to find out that all the units are individually metered for utilities and all utilities are paid by the tenants. 

The half dozen big time individual investors that I know in Los Angeles, also, own large management companies that can profit off of excess capacity by managing other owners(especially institutional owners) assets.I would not be surprised if most management companies also owned or were actively trying to acquire assets, too.But, if you are an insurance company or pension trust administrator, you would probably not want to be managing the day to day operations of multi-family even if it makes a great addition to the trust portfolio.It depends of the specific scenario of the owner/s

If not , make sure you have individual meters and the tenants pay all utilities including lawn care.

I did flips before and worked with contractors individually but this project is a total mess and a good learning so I am excited but nervous to find the right people for the job. 

How do you manage properties remotely if the need arises for an individual to physically go and see a tenant, say for example, they don't pay rent and stop taking your calls?

I recommend setting up keyword alerts for each area as they are discussed in the forums daily with advertisements posted in the BiggerPockets marketplace hourly.One thing to note when looking at the individual markets, you can make or lose money in any market.

However depending on the circumstances you could “drop n’ swap” from an LLC, effectively going your own route now as individuals.

If he fully explained to you the risks of offering as-is without inspections, and you are a competent individual who understands that risk, then I don't think he necessarily did anything wrong.