Hey @Elijah Dicks, I plan to start investing the next couple years but would love to gain advice/guidance/tips from some seasoned investors.  

Does anyone have advice or tips for me on what the best way for me to build my REI knowledge would be so that when I do have the adequate funds, I am already equipped with a very good base knowledge.

If the unit is located in an area full of single professionals who have good jobs and no kids and would be concerned about evictions on their credit you're probably better off to limit your renter pool to the top candidates. 

I would absolutely love any tips and teachings on how I should finance my first rental along with when we get to the duplex.

A useful tip I’ve discovered in various cities is to use Redfin to identify the hottest markets in each state.

Does anyone have any basic or in depth tips or things that will give me progress in the early stages of me working this out.

Understand that the below market rates you are referring to by the big builders comes out of their profit pool to buy down the rate.

Well priced properties still get jumped on pretty quickly - we have a smart pool of local and of out of state investors.

What are some tips and tricks for assessing this in comparison to neighboring properties?

We did a series of tax tips for real estate investors on our podcast last December, and this was one of the things we discussed with the CPA we had on.