I wanted to buy another house to move and rent out my current house within 2 years.I am happy to find this place so I can imporve my skillset as a landlord

In my market - new build duplexes dont cash flow well but are typically a great 5-10 year investment. 

This approach would be a little more sound and simplistic, in my opinion.

About my ideas and general questions.

In my experience one of my biggest lessons learned when dealing with older properties always expect more than you initially thought. 

However, as I built my own portfolio, I realized that my primary reason for investing was cash flow protection rather than equity protection.

I do not hassle people with having to sign a separate agreement.Vrbo allows you to upload your rules and the renter agrees to these when they book.I just type my rules in the Airbnb listing. 

I seem to get mixed messages in my research.

Many of my most sophisticated investor clients are engineers. 

In a previous life I projected managed 54 new builds and have done my own flips to stabilize my own neighborhood.