you will have to put some time in. also, not your main question, but: wholesaling is spectacularly difficult. 

Mainly investors/landlords or home owners?  

One of the main REASONS is that homeowners don't want to sell homes.

Good afternoon fellow investors,I just closed on my first rental property, which consists of a main house with 3 attached smaller units (efficiencies) - this is very normal in this area- , everything is on one meter.The previous owner used to live in the main house and therefore all utilities were included in the smaller units's rent payments.

None of the methods you purposed are bad, just gotta commit and run it for 5-10 years at a time.

My main questions:Should I hire a general contractor to manage the entire renovation, or would it be better to hire specialized contractors for each part of the project (flooring, paint, HVAC, etc.)?

The main thing with a non-local lender is they might not fully understand the specific market dynamics of your area, which can sometimes affect appraisals or timelines.However, they might be able to provide lower rates or better terms than local lenders so it is worth looking into.

But I am mainly looking to acquire real estate.

This is mainly due to the large amount of inventory and still high prices (though they are trending downwards).

My main plan to use real estate for is to eventually generate passive income.