Which means, if your RI business partner is going to be paying the mortgage, you should have some way of periodically checking that the payments are actually being made on time (for example, online access to the account if it's an institutional lender).After all, regardless of whether it shows up on your credit report, you'll likely be personally guaranteeing the whole amount of the loan which means if your business partner dies or walks away, you could be responsible for the entire loan.

MLS access is one.

What do they say or do to give them unit access and see its condition? 

The key is finding a value add property where you know the local market and can get easy access to the subject.

Acquire, rehab, and market properties (using the newsletter base, podcast, etc.) to buyers in your metro area.

Anyone’s thoughts on whether we can access and change locks or not.

When you inherited the home - you inherited at the "Stepped Up" Basis meaning the current value not the value at which time the previous Owner acquired the place.  

After some negotiating between one of the owners and me, I was able to acquire part 1/2 ownership in the property.

Yes it is easy to access equity and when a investor does he then has money that can be used to generate more income.

I’m looking at acquiring a property in Oceanside, rather than live in an apartment.