My Insurance Agent has strongly recommended that I put a Construction Agreement in place with my Contractor to shield me from liability, etc. 

These areas tend to have more affordable properties compared to central Phoenix and still offer strong rental demand and appreciation potential.

Not a strong argument ;-) I still had to pay off the loan to cure the DOS. 

It's 5 years into payments and going strong. ya suing on land lock is not a given right and is not always successful good job selling to neighbor.I also have one.. bought house at foreclosure.. 

Build a strong team, including agents, lenders, and property managers, and use tools like the BiggerPockets calculator to analyze deals.

I focus on finding deals that meet specific criteria, and I always keep my underwriting conservative to make sure the numbers work even on a worst case scenario.Right now, my big goal is to land my first property, ideally 20+ units in Florida, and build a strong portfolio from there.

It should be pretty accurate - high level data sites are not always going to be perfect, but should always be directionally correct and AirDNA has a pretty strong track record. 

I would strongly encourage you to buy properties that cash flow or break even.

Which I also would tell you that if you have trouble managing finances and poor credit I strongly advise against real estate as its capital intensive and if you struggle now managing money having more money and real estate only exacerbates that issue.

I strongly, strongly recommend not doing this.