Bear in mind there are many options involving notes, wholesaling, agency or lending money.Then find people you trust with your money, time and energy.There are several BPers investing in midwestern states.

My lease says the appliances are for the tenants use if they wish and that I bear no responsibility for them.

Some homes/tenants are a piece of cake to manage and others are a bear. 

The list for new builds can be a lot trickier (poor construction/ construction defects, new materials being used that haven't stood the test of time yet, foundation issues from expansive soils or bad concrete being used (harder to know because the damage isn't visible yet), sewer line might be already jacked up or done wrong, windows or roof may not have been flashed properly but water damage isn't visible yet (I've seen new builds where you could literally see daylight coming in through gaps around the windows), grading or drainage issues, truss rise, nail pops, water intrusion, cheap appliances only made to last a few years or poorly installed, dirty ducts from registers not being covered during construction, wood shrinkage cracking the sheetrock, doorframes off/sticking doors and windows, apparently mold and meth may be present already... both old and new require due diligence and an experienced inspector. 

You really need to check with your city/county building department to find out if you need a permit to add an exterior door to your home (most likely yes since you are punching a hole in a load-bearing wall).

You can only charge what the market bears.

what would the CoC be?

ANY lender is going to want core soil testing which is expensive- where is this?

Which is another reason I wanted to seek help on the process of due diligence because we wasted money on the site plans, soil test, geo tech etc. and the deal didn't go through. 

There may be some extension of a filing reg related to community property states and filing statuses  that has been brought to bear on 121 but I've not seen it.