so if its a full gut probably not since starting from scratch any way .

Lenders or investors who have short lock up periods but have years of experience feeding their business with new capital would give me more comfort but anyone who is just starting and is promising a rate of return or return of capital in a set period of time would be alarming because they very well could be reliant on fresh capital to make good on that promise and that usually ends poorly.

This includes critical programs such as: Social Security & Medicare, Medicaid & SNAP (food assistance), Pell Grants & Head Start, and Rental Assistance Programs". 

Looking for feedback from folks who have been in similar situations and have lessons learned or advice, as I am just getting started and this is literally my first post.Wife and I moved out of our first townhouse and rented it out to grow our family 3 years ago.

Talk to your CPA BEFORE you start the process.

BiggerPockets is full of resources designed to help you along your journey, whether you are just getting started or a seasoned investor.

Then once I find a property that I like to buy I'll start looking at the comps in the area that have been rented and are currently on the market to be rented and make sure that my mortgage payment will at least break even with the rental comps.I'm using rough estimates on Zillow and websites alike.

You start with a base line and introduce variables to determine their effect.You can see what trends have happened if you choose to, that may be of interest to you, but that isn't what currently interests me.

I only buy if I can have equity right from the start.

I plan on starting out next year with a small plug and play solution to have minimum risk.