Is it worth moving forward? 

Since graduating in 2021, I moved to Washington, DC to pursue a civil engineering career and am now feeling like I am in more of a position to start learning and pursuing real estate investing seriously.

Good luck moving forward.

Tenant 1 moved out five months ago.

My goal is to become an expert in property management.

If you're keeping it a separate studio rental and want to maximize the space, then removing it seems to be the right move - and definitely reduces the liability.

A few others have me mentioned other rust belt cities reviving because of cheaper housing prices, rising rents, and new business moving in.  

Plus there are less moving parts that can break, need constant tightening, lost/missing parts etc.

This quote is from Better Mortgage, but I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for other lenders who might offer better rates.I did explore a construction loan, but unfortunately, it didn't work out because the lenders said this is my first time constructing, and they were hesitant to move forward.Once everything is said and done, the total cost of the property will be $210K.

No one (ask the people who had to move out of their home due to insurance costs) is predicting insurance costs doubling, tripling in 2-3 years.