Rental income also sometimes has seasoning requirements before a lender wants to count it towards covering the debt you incurred.You don't mention how much income you will need to be financially independent.  

I'd personally talk to some contractors, and local real estate agents, and do some more connecting on here to get some more opinions from more seasoned veterans. 

I'm super excited to step into this season of life and look forward to learning a lot and growing. 

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

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

I do have an empty lot next to my current SFH , doing nothing (but costing me money to mow :)) my thought was to build a detached guest cottage to serve as an overflow for guests or it could also serve as a seasonal / monthly rental.

The alternative is to find a seasoned investor in the location where you plan to invest, work out an agreement with them to bring their money, time, expertise, relational capital, systems, etc. to a deal you bring to them, and let them show you the process from beginning to end.

We used to have in-house inspectors but it was hard to scale and with our heavies season being that of summer months, at 1000+ units we weren't able to hire enough inspectors for the last day of month move outs and first day of month move ins and then still keep them fully-employed in our slower season in fall/winter.

Currently, I am a seasoned Contractor / Residential Builder working for clients. 

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