The biggest issues with paid mentoring and coaching are:1. 

My biggest fear is to say to a potential seller that I’ll close but then not be able to because it isn’t a deal.

They wanted to make money, but they were focused on protecting downside risk.

The biggest keys are:1 - The design should have the least amount of waste. 

I love that you rented two of your bedrooms as mid term and short term rentals and made enough to pay for the mortgage and now you are going to use the rental income to show you can qualify for another property.This is an excellent strategy and one more people should consider doing in this inflationary environment to offset the biggest cost in their budget--housing.As you rightly point out, you can use this strategy with every house you buy accumulating a portfolio of houses that you originally started out living in as a primary residence every two years.Well done and more people should consider doing the same, or rent their garage, or shed, or a boat, or an extra car.Love it!

I think the biggest "?"

I would take a hard look at each one of these areas to determine where the biggest problem is, and then fix it.

I would caution against getting a partner, there are some real downsides no matter who it is, I’ve been through it with great people and it can be difficult to manage two visions.

My biggest issues so far is that they have had some labor issues on the maintenance staff but this is everywhere and i believe will work itself out in the coming months. 

Or they only get upside with no downside.