Following this, I consider it another pro of our situation that I have the ability to do significant property renovations myself, and between my wife and I, we make a pretty good design team.

We did a 100% gut/rehab on a 1950's house in 2018 and converted it to a duplex, turned out beautiful, salvaged the original wood floors in parts of the house, put good LVP in the rest, simple plastic mini blinds on every window.

Do it yourself is almost never recommended, although I’ve done some simple deed transfers myself.  

For estimating rehab costs, I can send you a simple calculator if you’d like.

It's a simple OBVIOUS.

But the thing that really made me skeptical was the fact that they couldn't (and still can't) address simple questions without becoming highly agitated.  

Most of the time the categorization is simple enough and I can do myself. 

My argument is simple—real estate, unlike most assets, doesn’t actually lose value over time.

A good starting point would be a 10% 2nd home loan or an owner occupied 5% loan where you can convert a basement or studio into a simple 1 bedroom unit and basically let your guests pay your mortgage. 

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