I'm not going to hold a tenant hostage or make them pay rent if they finished their work contract early and need to leave town.

To be honest, any Contractor that asks for larger amounts of money is showing that they do not have any reserves and/or they are 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'.After the initial draw, I would advise paying as the project proceeds - after demo is completely done (and you know that for sure if you are out-of-town), then pay for demo....only.

With that price range you are looking in I'd explore doing just 5% down conventional for a mutlifamily rather than 20% if you want to be able to save your funds to be able to purchase again sooner.

Little background from myside, started investing in RE since 2022 and recently moved out of country for W2 to explore a new place.

My office is North of the city in Old Town.

Not really a town people "visit" much, yet.

Explore my personal favorites, Set For Life by Scott Trench or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, for invaluable financial insights.3.

There are all rules you need to follow and many towns are limiting the ability to do this now.  

Then if you did, you're often dealing with small town/county sheriff. 

I will explore all those options.