I have the opportunity to buy from a motivated seller. 1 acre with four lots consisting of 3x POHs and 1x TOHs, plus a single detached garage that can be rented out as a mechanic shop.

@Kirk Roberts, first off if your accountant believes 1031 exchanges are too difficult you might want to shop around for another accountant.

., etc.) without any real estate experience is a bit like trying to form and manage a law firm without any legal experience, or trying to establish and manage an auto repair shop without any automotive experience--those would be monumental challenges even locally, but doing it from hundreds of miles away is near impossible.

Sometimes, different lenders have different rules or ways of doing things, so it might be worth shopping around a bit.

The mortgage shop will do them but they have to be above 450 sq Ft I believe 

Learn all you can from resources like BP and other forums, then marry that with some old fashioned physical labor.

I've been recently quoted 10%, seems a bit steep...Not the most absurd I’ve heard - MF purchases 5+ units will typically range in the 9% range, especially if you are shopping wholesale lenders and not local commercial banks.

Historically, of course, dark-stained flooring was less a fashionable possibility and more a solution used to hide multiple imperfections in cheap oak floors. 

I would use the good ole fashion enemy method and make sure your agent is specialized in STR

Happy to get together for coffee and talk shop if you're ever interested.