Starting with an owner-occupied duplex is a smart way to build equity and gain experience.

Finally, start small, analyze deals, and build a team to guide you as you gain experience.

If I can park the 388k ($415-27k) for one year at CD rate of 4.5% and then est 300k (after paying cap gain/depr recap) at 3.0% (assume CD rates lower) that interest income of about 24 months net of ordinary income tax is about the same as my current mortgage.Trying to play devil's advocate and think why selling this year does not make sense. 

My head is spinning on how to make this run as smoothly and efficiently to help maximize gains and bare minimum, break even after expenses.

If you want to have access to that money "just in case", a HELOC may be better.

Hi Shayan, You will be able to close on properties quickly and have access to rehab funds immediately if you are able to qualify for a HELOC that can cover both the purchase and rehab.You should be careful though as if you cannot sell the property or you run out of rehab funding, you may end up being over leveraged.

States that are non-disclosure don't have as much public information and Zillow doesn't have access to non-public info for their analytics. 

Real estate actually takes access to capital and/or credit. 

Because I did not buy this on Biggerpockets, am I not able to access the bonus content.

You can access that article here https://naahq.org/application-fraud-search-silver-bulletsRegarding Chicago and Section 8, YIKES!