Once you have ran through about 3 months or so of this and penciled out 50-100 deals for fun, I would talk to a local agent and start the process of looking.

If the higher end rent prices on comparable units take an extra month to fill the vacancy and also the tenant stays 1-2 years instead of 3-4 years on average those landlord make LESS income charging that rental price ESPECIALLY if they pay a PM a placement fee upon turnover on top.

If so, does anyone have any referrals to help me with the process?

You need to be extremely organized and create processes and systems.

In other words, if you don't fill your unit in the slow season because you're afraid it will cut into your high season revenue, will the high season revenue more than cover the difference?

I desire to begin investing asap so I started the process of  learning as much as I can by reading and watching videos.

If you are newer I'd suggest a house hack unless you can rinse/repeat this process again. 

The bank they are using with that offer is now saying my site prep bid came in way too high and not approving me (so far. still in process).

I am in the process of shopping for an insurance company for a rental property here in VA.

The process is easy:1) You’ll receive a disarmingly simple one-inch-thick three-ring binder containing your plan documents.