Tiffany and The Gate district are between SLU hospital and Lafayette Square.

More like Bill Gates/software geeks. 

This will be the first house I've bought and it will be in a new build in a gated community that I'm intending on house hacking.

We would share an  outside entrance to the home via our side gate, but other than that I think we could keep things pretty separate. 

Your reputation is everything in the syndication space and you want to come out of the gate with a solid credible name backing you.  

But at the same time I'm a fan of diversification too and cost savings being that I'm already closing on a loan here and thus may as well use it to save 4% on a rental (fees) and be a cash buyer (as far as a seller is concerned), both of which improve my equity ratio out of the gate.

You want to come out of the gate with credibility and an experienced "name" (mentor) backing you.  

The HOA may also require a refundable fee (deposit) to cover the use of common areas, facilities, utilities, and perhaps community security (in some gated communities).

Got off to a rough start as the contractor hired by my business partner turned out to be uninsured and was going for change orders right out of the gate.

Out of the gate though a lot of people will take advantage of new investors by taking their money or you'll be paying for something that may be beyond where you are in real estate at this time.Appraisal up front is standard because the appraiser isn't typically an employee of the lending company so they have to be paid as any other vendor would.