It seems like it basically up to you to do the math on how much more you will potentially make selling each unit individually and then deciding if that extra $$$ is worth the number of extra hours you will spend.

I highly recommend you travel to the market yourself and spend a couple days driving around, looking at various properties, if you are going to be buying anywhere.  

Several of my STR investor clients here in Colorado have used a designer, and they generally pick a few statement pieces that they spend money on and then go with FB marketplace  or even IKEA for smaller items. 

Expect to spend a considerable amount of your time speaking to people.Expect to work dozens of hours/week with little to no immediate result.Expect most of your early interest from potential clients to come from your sphere of influence.Expect to go 3-6 months without getting paid (unless you do rentals which usually pay faster)Expect to be bombarded with distractions - mainly, people/companies marketing to you so that you choose their system for quick and easy buyer or seller leads.

Quote from @Corinne Snyder:Hi Michael, my CPA will not allow me to claim myself as a real estate professional with my one rental single-family home rental property because I do not spend enough hours per year running it, therefore he won't allow any overhead expenses to be claimed; only expenses related to the property directly.  

Make sure you know what it's like to be an Agent before you spend thousands of dollars on MLS fees etc.. 

Go Big (4plex, spend 700k +) or 2.

You may need to spend every cent they offer on moving things out and back in, but that a small price to pay if after this is done you have your property back in the condition it was when you started.

I can also tag it by property to easily pull P&L for each property.I am super happy with Baselane and excited to not have to spend so much time on bookkeeping and prepping things manually for my accountant. 

I believe the neighborhood has some of the strongest fundamentals in the entire city but its incredibly easy to make the wrong assumptions when investing in Mount Airy if you don't truly know the market and the only way to do this is by spending considerable time in the neighborhood.