There is no "secret" that the big boys are doing necessarily, just incremental pieces of information, relationships, and knowledge that have been built up over time at scale. 

My last piece of advice....take it or leave it....being a landlord with your friend is a very different experience than just living with them in a rental.

If there are any books, podcasts, or other resources that you’ve found invaluable, I’d love to hear your recommendations.And finally, if you could go back to when you were buying your first property, what’s the one piece of advice you wish someone had given you?

My 2 pieces of advice are: 1.call Proper insurance, they specialize in short term rental insurance, 2.

Here is one piece that is extremely important:If you have a low credit score, you need to find out why.

Figure that piece out before you put your money on the table.

Offer the design team a piece of the equity OR pay a premium as incentive to keep to an established timeline (that is within their control). 

Last piece of advice is to avoid shortcuts on the development phase in an effort to make up for the added carrying costs.  

Yeah, that libra thing is kind of the missing piece.

There are a lot of moving pieces with that strategy, so having someone who understands how to properly track expenses, capital improvements, and refinances is key.