Plan is the standard house hack and renovate.

What you need to do now is set screening standards and write them down (make sure they don't discriminate). your standards should include things such as credit score minimum, income requirements, occupancy maximums (you have a legal limit, but you can set a lower limit if desired), as well as some rules such as: no prior evictions, no felonies, etc.

I sat down with the buyer and filled out the standard offer form and brought it over to the escrow office.

What is the standard structute to have my partner pay back the 50% of the downpayment?

When the mortgage goes through I would like to repeat the process.I feel my core competency would be remodeling the structure to a high standard while saving a huge amount of remodeling fees through expertise, creativity and elbow grease. 

If crime and safety are issues, then work on helping neighbors communicate better.If the area is safe but burdened with a bad rep, the work on promotion.If the area is doing fine but abandoned, then make sure good news storied get picked up in local media.I wrote an entire book on the topic.

Obviously I've got a short list from Google, but wondering if anyone has suggestions for standard cleanings and tune-ups?

You can do it, but if it came down to a legal matter, the lease would set the standard. 

How is free (free in the sense it is included in a standard closing)? 

I have read some whole selling books and figured I could start there but I want to do flips, buy and hold.