There is a dilapidated, unoccupied duplex in my local town (literally a 10 min walk from my home) and it is by a cemetary.

I may not have been clear enough: the ADU is already built, we will just need to do cosmetic fixes (literally painting and rebuilding the shower just because it is super old).

To become an REP you have to:- spend 750hrs or more in real estate investing activities (looking at zillow, watching BP youtube videos, actual property mgt, etc)- spend more time on real estate activities than any other single area (like a w2 job)My wife is a REP while I work at a W2, this allows us to take deductions from passive investing against our active income and saves us thousands of dollars every year on taxes.

They did not finish the work and I ended up buying the property with one APT half way done because according to them no contractor was willing to finish the work for nineteen thousand dollars.

It may be cheaper to only increase rent by $X amount, rather than spending tens of thousands on renovations and absorbing vacancy losses. 

The mold remediation will take couple days and set me back thousands but someone has to pay for the mold remediation and it's not like the insurance or the tenant will cover it.

I think contractors are everywhere, literally drive around or do a google or facebook search and vet them.

Guest Damage Insurance...This type of insurance covers small damages (no more than several thousand) that guests might do to the property.

The reason the industry looks so saturated is because you have thousands of broker outfits with lender sounding names selling the products of the big box lenders.Is there true private money? 

Same goes for furnishing; many spend 10s of thousands on furnishing if doing bnb like we are.