I'm not too hung up on this, because the margins still appear very attractive (from what the agent speculated ARV). my hesitancy stems from a lack of experience and direct steps/plan of action to take on a property I like. 

Do it very intentionally, not just for the sake of scaling up, but to get better quality or easier to manage properties that will replace lower quality or harder properties. 

I have to choose between a much cheaper market that I live in that is much easier to cash flow, but finding good renters could be more difficult.

@Tom HallAt 7% if you can I would pay it down as investing it net after tax gains may not get you the 7% you are paying - so it’s less riskDownside is you lose liquidity of that money as it’s tied in your propertyIf rates come down in future you can refinance and even take some of the cash out.Regarding your question are rates coming down, a lot of factors come into play but right now it does not appear there will be significant changes to rates over next 3-6 months.

That experience taught me to always overestimate CapEx and vacancy buffers... it’s much easier to sleep at night when you’ve got those cushions in place.From what I’ve read in Bloomberg, these challenges aren’t unique, especially with rising rates.

With experience in construction and sales, you'll definitely be able to use those skills to your advantage when doing value-add deals.The better the deal is, the easier it will be to do the BRRRR method and you can find some of the best deals off-market, so it's important to build a solid network and create deal flow so you can see as many opportunities as possible. 

These contracts are both dated 2019 and appear to be lease agreements for solar equipment that I, nor the mortgage lender, were ever a party to.

At the end of the day if it is easier for your Tax CPA it will be easier for you. 

There are quite a number of things that can make utilizing an FHA loan more difficult such as more barriers during appraisal, appearance of low qualification/little cash, typically longer closing period, likely higher interest rate, and PMI cannot be dropped without a refinance if 3.5% down.That said, just chain 5% down conventional loans, and make sure your duplexes pay for themselves.  

I would just excavate a few 2'x2'x2' (or larger if possible) spot footings, w rebar and Simpson hardware,under the house (you will want to take up the floor to make this easier to do).