I'm looking at monthly cost to seller vs. anticipated rental income, purchase price relevant to the ARV of the area and interest rate, balloon, etc.

Interest rates were what, near 3%, 5 years ago.

Nobody knew interest rates were going to go  shoot up (and nobody knew we were going to face a global pandemic).

A nice but expensive duplex on a beach or in an expensive area might be ideal, if you can swing the other half out of personal funds. 

Also find some funding and some friends that can help catapult me to where I am trying to go.Welcome back Jerome!

I wouldn't touch your current loan unless rates drop 1-2%.

Of course, you can always contact a prospective fund operator directly and ask them your own set of DD questions (ask for their track record, properties that the fund has acquired thus far, performance of the fund, past funds that have closed to investors and how they have performed, etc).  

Super low vacancy rates in SD, even STR's. 

If the landlord or their employee did the work themselves, they must include a description of the work, how long it took, and the hourly rate they charged.

Beg family and friends to fund it for you.They "might" do it if they see you've learned a lot and your business plan sounds very solid.How do I know this "might" work?