You seem like an Ideal candidate to pick a househacking market anywhere in the U.S.

You don't know any roofers, so you just pick one out of the yellow pages (yeah, I'm showing my age) and they got 1/2 way done and then went to do another job and it rained, destroying your roof? 

As an agent, this has also been a great way to pick up clients :) BiggerPockets has a section just for this, Under the BUILD YOUR TEAM tab- then select- MEET UPhttps://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521Best of luck to you!

I'd love to know what matters most to you when picking a financing option for your rentals.

Taking this freebie just to pick her brain without any intention of hiring her is wrong.

I’m most interested to learn how people in the local area are picking their investments and how much pain they are willing to endure per unit. 

HI Christian,NC is a great area to invest and ever growing so you picked a great place for it.There are a few great cities that come to mind:- Charlotte, NC- Raleigh, NC- Chapel Hill, NC- Ashville, NC- Emerald Isle, NCI have lived in NC for 29 years and always happy to chat. 

I'd suggest picking up the phone or stopping by the local code enforcement office.

And they said that’s just the preliminary contract … I have no idea what that mean … I haven’t even pick out the flooring and vanity . got a second opinion and the contractor quote way above what insurance already approved from the first contractor .

What you pay with labor will depend on if for instance one of my units still has a good pad and tack and strip then I just pay for carpet and installation cost.What you will pay will also depend on how much you are installing at one time.I don't like Berber for rentals.The design of the loop once it starts unraveling it can unwind pretty good an dis harder to get certain stains and pet stuff out of it.With carpet you want a Nylon carpet even if the cheaper version.Some carpet guys will try to sell you the rubber composite carpet stuff which is the really cheap stuff so it will stand up to tenant abuse.The problem is it can only be cleaned usually up to one time and then you need to replace it again.So I would rather get a cheaper nylon that can be re-cleaned many times over after installation for an additional .10 to .15 a sq ft extra than the super cheap stuff I will have to replace again.If you get 1 sq ft for carpet,pad,tack and strip,and labor install and it is Nylon you are getting one heck of a deal.Even at a carpet place usually you are at .40 to .50 for the pad and .50 to .60 for a cheap carpet.Then you have to do material to install and labor.I have seen sometimes if you have to do a small area you can pick up quality remnant pieces for real cheap and hit that type of number or buy in bulk.