Since joining, I have started downloading the wonderful E-books provided by BP as to better grasp the basics and to educate myself before taking steps towards entering the real estate market, such as a realtors license. 

They should have a much better grasp on when the property is available to sell.

I actually have never been able to grasp the concept of refinancing and putting the equity towards another investment-  I've had a few other previous deals (rental in jackson hole and a flip in hailey), both of which went well-  I would have gladly held onto both if I could have refinanced to pull some equity, but the part I don't understand is how people then cover the increased mortgage payment.  

You can probably see I am new to this and just trying to get a better grasp on this.

This seems like a brilliant grasp of the obvious but... 

The HVAC guy mentioned something around 'builder shd have set 3 separate pipes for each unit' but i couldn't grasp the technicality.

As a brand new landlord, they may or may not count all or any of the property income until you have a couple years tax returns to back it up with.Keep it simple until you have a firmer grasp on how things work, for every person on here with a "I got rich and retired in 3 years with real estate" story, there are a million inactive accounts of people who got over leveraged and lost their seat at the table.Required reading:The Richest Man in BabylonThe Millionaire Real Estate InvestorGood luck brother! 

I am new to the area and just moved here from St Louis and working on getting a good grasp on the area.

I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on the process but one thing is confusing.

Really try to grasp the business end from your parents.