I'm seeing that a lot of the municipalities will allow homeowners to submit building permits, but will place limitations on residency requirements and property types (i.e., not allowed on townhomes or condos, must be primary residence for 1 year).

I think finding an investor friendly agent can help you spot hidden gems like that and submit offers on your behalf that fit your buy criteria.

Is there any reason I need to submit the deed to the county now or could I wait until much closer to when I plan to refi?

I watched the 3:28:27 YouTube video "How to start an AirBnB business the ultimate free course" Rob posted on his channel Robuit and now feel equipped with everything I need to start my 1st STR.

Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice.

I also started watching a few of Peter Harris's videos.

I am new here, but I have been watching videos from the Bigger Pockets team on YouTube for a few months. 

any videos you would recommend? 

I've been watching a lot of videos from https://www.strlawguys.com/ but this is going to cost a good chunk of change to setup a fairly complex protection structure.

But try this: https://www.homewyse.com/services/cost_to_estimate_home_remo...Let me ask you this.....I was even considering offering a service to 'walk the property' via video conference and throw out some rough numbers....do you think that would help people?