Now off to find a tax professional and get things in motion before it's too late.  

Quote from @Alex Spivey: I want to start renting as soon as I can so does anyone have adviceYou want to find a place to rent and occupy, or you want to buy an investment that you can rent to others?

I am not finding much material online or a book to study from.

Unfortunately looking like this specific deal likely won't pan out; seller is definitely not motivated to offload quickly/discounted based on their replies.I found a realtor through BP who I'm now working with to find a property, so progress in the right direction!

That may impact the amount you have listedYour most advantageous route for financing will be seller carry or finding a private lender.

Find the style that people are doing in the area then find equivalent options for materials at local supply houses.

you probably just need to find a few other John Lashers and work on it together.  

We plan to come back live in it the other 6 months, fix it up more, repeat that process until we can find another deal that makes sense for us. 

Low entry costs How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I'm not doing any Sub2 deals not, but would if I find something.