This way, we can customize it to our needs and preferences.Our goal is to live in one half and rent out the other for about 7-10 years, then move on to building our "dream home."

They can make money but from what I've seen your more in the customer care and takes more of your time.

-Decide between fixer-uppers, which offer customization and appreciation potential but require more work, or turn-key properties, which provide immediate rental income with minimal effort.Hiring a Property Manager:-A property management company ensures efficient marketing, tenant screening, rent collection, and maintenance.

I find it unlikely that one could build a house out of a shipping container cheaper than one could build a stick framed house.I work for a custom home builder, and we are a union shop.  

After experiencing different types of inspections with all kinds of properties from custom builds to existing, it all depends on your end goal , I highly suggest you reach out to a team, really strong team such as @Jorge Vazquez.

You must asses if they are they the weekend weed smoking warrior or are they number 1 customer from Breaking Bad. 

Understand it's a business not a RE pursuit meaning make sure the experience is #1 for the customer.

Although I do not have a house that would benefit from one of these compact units, we have replaced 3 out of 4 of our homes with the LG 5 cu. ft High efficiency top load no agitator washers & the 7.3 cu ft top load dryer and my cleaners absolutely love them for the large load capacity and the custom drying time ability. 

Or, if you know of someone who's already doing what you want to do, lean into the relationship and offer to help them (ask them what they need and do it) so you can learn by doing.There's no "easy button"; I do like the idea of paying a mentor to speed up the learning curve, but that's not always feasible. 

There's a variety of ways to get a deal in front of you (I'm mostly a flipper), but basically if it looks promising, I run custom comps queries and check the current & past $/sf of renovated/distressed product in that city or zipcode.Here's a chart on 90066 I generated from my tool under Market Stats > Sales Data > Specific Zip Code:- My above chart (more available) shows the Avg Renovated $/sf (High) over time in this Zip Code, something completely different than charts/providers based on Averages/Medians only, like every other platform (RedFin Below, https://www.redfin.com/news/data-center/):- Can't select smaller locations such as City or Zipcode for their $/sf data, so it's useless helping me underwrite/verify a deal.- Can set Zip Code for Median Sale Price data, but again it's the median/avg so it's useless helping me underwrite/verify a deal.Then if that looks decent, I'll run Sales Comps, and get a quick summary of some key metrics based on those comps.