She wanted us to pull the car out of service until the "service" lizard could be located...I swear I am not making this up and have not been drinking...

Just starting to ever so lightly tread into the water....

For example, I have a subject property that has 1682 SF on the main floor and 810 SF of finished basement (the majority of which is about 8 feet in height with the exception of some bulkheads to hide the mechanicals) and 271 of semi-finished basement that is a utility room basically (washer/dryer, freezer, hot water heater, furnace, some storage).

Why not start with a small turnkey rental property and test the water?

He used to troll these waters for suckers very hard until I found out that his claimed experience and transaction history was fake.

I would also look at the availability of public water and public sewer, if not at the site how far away are those services.

However, most tend to get very watered down with sales pitches etc.  

In south Florida, there are a ton of free RE networking events where contractors, agents, mortgage brokers, etc all meet for drinks etc and I have found this to be a great way to find good people in the business.

Good question, they seem to be all over the place depending on the area and I am not an insurance specialist, I think typically 1.5-2x normal rates but I could be off by a bit i have been honing in on White Hawk if you know that development and its in the pines but it does have water system with hydrants but volunteer fire department ..

Clean water, air, peace and sunshine are nature's remedies and in over-abundance on the Oregon Coast.