So $257,000 of the money is the note.Term: 18 months of interest only payments.Interest starts at 6.5% for the first 4 months, and goes up gradually from month 5-month 9, where it caps at 10%.I have contacted lenders already, who have given me a conditional pre-approval to re-finance out of the sellers deal after 6 months of seasoning.

Keep reading here and the right one for you should gradually become clear.

My plan is to build out a real estate portfolio gradually over the next few years and these will be mostly rentals only.

It's also a relatively simple strategy with fewer "moving pieces" than more advanced strategies like flipping--and this is important.As I always say: if you're a beginner skier, you wouldn't try to do a double-black diamond for your first run (if you're smart)...instead, you'd start off on beginner terrain so that you actually have a chance of success--and then, you'd gradually build up to more advanced terrain as you improve.

I'm sure it will gradually pick up, but the hard part if from 0 to 1.  

In regards to whether or not to raise prices up to market rate if you find that you are charging drastically under market, then it might be a better idea to gradually increase your rents each year rather than have a sudden jump in rental prices so you don't run the risk of high vacancy rates. 10% per year until the rents are at market rate would likely be a fair target to aim for.

I understand that insurance gradually goes up every year due to various factors but a 50% increase seems excessive.I know I said I wanted to cut the middle man out but I would like to go with an independent insurance broker if they can find me a competitive policy so if anyone could recommend someone that specializes in house hacking rent-by-room strategy for the Denver metro area, that would be great as well!

After the first deal, start gradually getting into more extensive rehabs each deal or scale up to multi family using Brandon Turners doubling method.

The may gradually do so, but over such a long period of time it's not worth the wait.The primary role of CF is to recover costs. 

I have been loading theoretical deals into that as well over the past year and gradually refining my assumptions.