Also seems like a lot of MF sells occupied with tenants in place so you just have to comfortable with that and contracting up from and seeing inside after contracting.    1st step is to find a great lender and get pre-approved for a loan so you know what your budget is. 

Like what would the keywords be for it to be legitimate? 

It could very well be its all lost but seems like a big jump to conclusions by investors that basically did very high interest rate investing and expected  CD like performance..

Meanwhile, your expenses, like debt service, taxes, insurance, and maintenance, continue.These are the requirements necessary to attain and maintain financial independence.

I'm looking for the cleanest & most visible way to access payment history, see amortization schedule, tax documents, etc- much like bank softwares provide. 

You won’t get the metrics like the pay down or the returns on the second note this way but you can get the accurate cash flow.

The best thing about being a pilot is you will have a captive audience hours per day, with likely at least one of those audience making about $300k/yr. 

Commercial properties are listed on places like LoopNet or much better CoStar.

Your best and most efficient option would be a DSCR cashout refinance, more than likely.

It sounds like you’re exploring a lot of great strategies—house hacking and live-in flips can be great entry points while building equity.Looking forward to seeing how your investing journey unfolds—welcome aboard!