I think a good starting point would be looking at the comps in your area (recently renovated or new construction homes) that sold around your desired sale price and in your desired timeframe and taking inspiration from there design choices. 

Hi Delroy,Congrats on your first house hack—what a great start!

Regarding finding discounted deals......That is the reason why I started a wholesaling business. 

Sadly, both of them escalated this conflict and started creating domestic disturbances so we had to move both of them out.Assuming the upstairs family is being reasonable, I suspect no matter what you do, the people downstairs will never be happy.  

Great start but now you have some daunting questions.

It’s a little more work to set up, but if you get a solid property manager, it’s not as scary as it sounds.If I were you, I’d keep digging into the Capitol region, NJ, and CT—compare the numbers, and maybe even start building connections with agents or wholesalers in those areas.

If that's the case, you'll want to start with a fix and flip (or hold) type of loan, complete your renovations, get it rented out and THEN refinance into a DSCR loan for a long term hold. 

@Ketch Bays I started with the exact same amount of money.

What would be the very first steps to get started? 

Otherwise, that rental cycle you started with will likely repeat itself again...