Ultimately,  I want to get my guy closer to our home working on properties that I/we own (or that we are JV partners on).

It will be an indication of their housekeeping skills and ultimately how he or she will treat your house.Verify employment.

We are thinking to try a flip next but ultimately, we are planning on getting more rentals, so the money will get used one way or another. 

Yes, ultimately I think flipping is what's I want to do because it's the most fun and challenging.

For my partnership, ultimately it was time to split because my partner no longer put forth any effort.

But ultimately, I think these would be treated by renters as being no different than mobile homes.  

Ultimately what I'm suggesting is that their Loan Officers / Underwriters at online lenders are notoriously bad at identifying whether someone adheres to loan (in this case FHA) guidelines in regards to income, assets, credit, property condition, etc. until it's way too late and closing is almost upon you. 

Perhaps at some point in the future when you are experienced and looking to scale up, you can hire others for these tasks but ultimately, you need to learn them first before you start buying.

Issues arise that are unseen and something will ultimately breakdown.

My anecdote with remote locks is that they ultimately weren't worth the price and was more headache than they were worth.