I used a basic DIY segregation study with an IRS audit guarantee.

@Sam ZawatskyIf you do land on painting the kitchen cabinets yourself, here is a good instructional guide on DiY process https://www.younghouselove.com/mauve-kitchen-cabinets-hidden. 

if you're willing to put up with the pain and inconvenience - moving every 1-3 years, living in the smaller / worse units, DIYing things - you could have a portfolio of 5-20 units in 10 years, just by using your house payment.maybe the house you have would be an OK rental. 

This may be an overly ambitious strategy considering that I am inexperienced in both DIY and sales contracts, but in theory it seems like a very efficient option.

If you have natural gas to that spot for a tanked unit, swapping to a tankless is cake.Insulate the garage door if that isn't done.If you are local and handy, you can do a DIY mini split in there for under $1000.

It was built in '59 and the previous owner did mainly DIY fixes for everything.

(SFR= single family) There are modular kit homes that finance as a second trust deed, this is probably your ONLY choice if you only have 10% down.

Landlord would have to send a text occasionally to remind me to send two more checks, which I never post dated.I can see when I do rent out property I need the CYA paper work, along with a CSI crime scene kit to document the before and after.Thanks Bryn

Normally, house hacking is a much smarter option because DIY renovations fail every single time.

As someone with basic framing/DIY knowledge, this is something I would feel comfortable tackling over a long weekend and would only cost me around $500 in materials.