You can start to educate yourself on the individual components; how much does it cost to paint on a per sqft basis or what is an average kitchen remodel.  

Educate yourself on how to handle marketing, screening, late rent, lease violations, etc.

But ya have to make some educated prognostications in life.Add this to the information your processing - What your talking about doing is eliminating around $4000 or interest expense (which is deductible anyway so really could be a real impact of eliminating $2800 or so) of debt in exchange for paying over $10K in capital gains tax (don't forget possible state gains tax as well).  

One question for the community is: What are the next best steps I should take to further educate myself and get started in this industry to set myself up for future success?

EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

A couple of years ago, I worked with an investor who never updated the contact information for the loan and the Bank call the seller (ex-wife), that day she was mad at her ex-husband and told the bank her ex allowed someone to steal their property from them and they got no money, she was kicked out of her house and there were strange people living there.This could all have been avoided if the investor did this process correct.Get educated, also I do not know your attorney but not many attorneys have the knowledge to do this process correctly. 

I will need to educate myself on house hacking and co-living.

The School of Hard Knocks is the best education, but if your company will pay for it, I would go with an MBA for future (non-RE) career development.

Over time, this strategy naturally builds your portfolio of managed properties.3.Use Educational Content as Free Marketing•Landlords love practical advice, and educational content positions you as an expert.

Nevertheless, my question is the following: How do I run a proforma correctly so that from a distance I can run numbers and know I have an educated source calculated to make a deal happen and not fall through.