IME with due respect to architects they are not generally necessary for simple remodels.

The idea is simple: purchase a property, live in one part, and rent out the rest to offset your mortgage or even generate profit.

Does anyone know of a blog I could read or possibly a podcast I could listen to each morning that gives me a simple update on daily market trends?

Simple, point out her responsibility for safekeeping of the property.

What's left is simply $ to close (HML easily solves that) getting the vendors to do the "simple stuff" (pick your platform; Angie, Neighborly etc etc) and than to sell it (more agents than one can count happy to list). 

Benefits of long-term rental are literally ZERO unless one of the following is true for you:1.

You can too, without being a wholesaler or an agent.You can walk into a mall to a jewelry store and buy gold, which is simple, but you pay a huge markup.

I literally laughed through the phone at his suggestion, because I was broke, in debt, and in every way and unqualified borrower, and the lending environment in 2012 was probably stricter than it had been since the invention of the 30yr mortgage.

It’s simple, people who spend good money on the home of their dreams don’t want STR’s next door to them.  

Literally everybody else I know personally who invests remotely has lost either a little money or a lot of money.