I approached them with specific terms that would benefit them and secure their investment on me (interest, payment due dates etc..). 

Private funding could also be secured and very rarely will they have the means to check credit.

What do you do to ensure that the tenant is responsible for security deposit disputes since that is the largest reason for owner lawsuitsHow familiar are you with the newly changed laws that can affect you the owner if they are not used correctly?.

Other lenders, not really.He got the property with hard money to secure it, then refinanced. 

Security deposits are for repairs after the tenant moves out. 

Your comment did remind me that depending on close date, their may be refunds owed for security or cleaning deposits that get refunded after close date for stays that occurred before close date

I bolded the phrase which seems to fit our end of the business, "Any entity created solely for the purpose of securitizing loans secured by an interest in real estate, provide the entity does not service the loans" which would be exempt.

Landlord may withhold any such amounts from Tenant's security deposit."

And the local building official called it commercial.I think we can secure some rehab financing, but we'd like to do a long term commercial loan once we have it repaired and rented.

I'm retired Navy and I currently work for the Government, so stepping away from the security it provides will be scary.