Hi Chase,It's ultimately a matter of leverage and risk tolerance, but if you only plan on doing one project at a time for the time being, using cash is probably the safest option.

Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner.

Even if the investment ultimately only breaks even after 5 more years, putting in $10K to save $100K is a good return on the $10K.Pref equity could be an option for example 2 if the investors did not wish to pony up.  

But which reno loan you use ultimately depends on your financial profile.

Purchase price: $830,000 Cash invested: $225,000 The invested gain from the previous sale was utilized to upgrade, leveraging an ideal location for long-term appreciation, ultimately ensuring income during retirement.

Then tell the agent to run comps for ARV based on updates you do.And you also said you can't afford to lose $20-30k, the most seasoned flippers/investors lose money all the time, and ultimately that is part of your education costs, hopefully you don't make any costly mistakes, but you have to run your numbers well enough to make sure there is some 'ooops' fund to help shield you from that.As for comps, typically, appraisers want them to be in the same neighborhood, within 15% same square footage, same # beds/baths and age.

Here are a few I recommend: "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Roberto Kiyosaki; "Set for Life" by Scott Trench; "The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Spencer; "The BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide" found here on BP; "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Tuner.

Ultimately, legal protection by putting your duplex into an LLC has always been something that has been touted by attorneys, but most investors I have worked with have not gone that route.

For small spaces, you can't get a small enough (in terms of BTU) multi-zone unit and what happens is one unit receives refrigerant even when not running if the other is running, which due to the cold of the evap coil causes it to condensate and ultimately causes constant problems with drainage.Also, look for a mini-split where you can connect an external thermostat and configure the head unit to shut off when the set point is reached.

Sometimes I think we get caught up on which market is good/not good but we forget that ultimately it doesn't matter how good the market is if you're doing business with people who are not good at what they do.