Good points I try to target a price range basically a starter  home  that is affordable in  A,B area . 

I will reach out to you personally, please keep an eye out in your inbox.

One thing to note when getting conventional mortgages and spouses.There is a 10 limit per person for conventional financing.You can either do 10 conventional in each person's name which would be 20 mortgages for 2 people or if you do the mortgages jointly, will only allow 10 in total.My thoughts are not to own joint assets until you are both married. 

I personally would only reno to add additional living space and leave the rest as is.

I can provide support of checking in on contractors, staging rental properties, walk potential leads to give you an idea of the property in person or what the area is like, meeting with agents, and drafting scope of work for projects. 

Quote from @Ashish Acharya: @Niklas Zhu If you tear down your STR in 2025 and convert it to personal use, depreciation recapture does not occur at the time of conversion.

If you stay in Northern Minnesota you could look to locate closer to Duluth which has a large supply of duplexes at prices much below $500K.

I’m not a “people person” so they handle screening.

Will you potentially be more at peace if you sell and buy an investment property that you have never lived in personally?

Hard money lenders focus more on the property’s value rather than your personal debt to income ratio (which traditional banks use) allowing for quicker approval and funding.