One of the most important issues is will you own in your own name or will you own in an entity like and LLC.

That in addition with checking the rental history kinda helps find the good tenants.I didn't have any big issues with Sec 8 Tenants there. 

Does anyone have any good resources for an initial screening list of things to check for structurally or other issues a home inspector should find?

That is a much more complex issue but could be a windfall for you.

Because of these issues, we picked up both houses for the price of one.

Got a property under contract that has 4 heirs. Everything was going well until one of the heirs came up with an IRS lien. Heir can't pay it off. What else can I do to get this property purchased?? Is it possible for ...

If your partner is not ethical you could have real issues, and there is also the possibility for one partner to not pull as much weight as the other partner.

Also, I travel a lot in my primary profession so I have no issue with vacating my condo and finding another living situation (maybe a small apartment) if I'm able to develop a passive income stream by doing so.

Technically, you can absolutely get that next property and new mortgage as a primary residence without waiting a year. 

@Stan R. if this is still an open issue reach out to @David Soble he's a michigan real estate attorney with decades of experience and he's active in all the investor groups around town