With the new commission rules you can stay flexible with an offer of buyer agent commission, rather than having to commit to a certain percentage going to the buyer agent upfront. 

Personally for what people charge for these programs I would say you are 1000x  better off taking some courses at a local college, getting a degree and working in real estate to get paid for experience and then do real estate on the side for your own portfolio as well.

Is any bank offering a HELOC based on the combined equity?

One thing to note- the building is older (built in 1922), is considered in a historical district, and although each unit has been fully renovated, I have not upgraded all the electrical/roof and plumbing, so that's on the older side which I know is more challenging to get insured... 

When it was time for inspections, they told me, I can’t do that and the area is not deemed for multi family- which is a lie because both houses on either side of mine were duplex.

The problem is at $250K what are you getting each side sqft, bed/bath count etc.  

That's one of our biggest risks it seems, however, ND is more friendly than the MN side.  

@Luke Spencer I am not on the management side but I can tell you it took 2+ years to fill 300 units at one of our facilities and the other just hit 300 units in 12/13 months so it really depends on the demographics, and local housing market trend, the more people moving in and out the higher the demand for storage.I think if you're looking at a saturated market then the upfront cash to turn the warehouse into self storage is not a good idea but then again, maybe those operators are on back roads ( low visibility ) and don't push google ads well.

And all of that with training wheels, it is very hard to screw it up on a consequential scale.Because it is 2025 and RE is not cheap anymore I will encourage you to also look into building a business on the side.

I think you will need to look at fredericksburg or further away - and most likely a property that needs work.You can find some on the maryland side but be careful with some of the neighborhoods those homes are in.