I am not exactly new to owning real estate, or even renting, but I need to employ some different techniques that I am now learning from BP to grow my portfolio and move towards financial independence. 

It is almost always folks (primarily women) are work independently. 

@Matthew Metros whatever seems the most comfortable to you and you are most interested in. Depending

My next mistake with this property is that I did not know that banks wont loan out to individuals without a W2 job and if you are self-employed or an independent contractor, then you need 2 years of tax returns showing that your income is suffice for them to lend to you.

Not sure where your property is located, but any local independent insurance agent should be able to help you out with your property.

Employees take time, even if independent contractors.I think your purchase was awesome. 

If so, I don't know if I would begin independently renovating a property further than a day trip.  

How it is factored in depends on the totality of the scenario. 

Hard money is pretty independent of normal requirements as you're just getting it from an individual investor, but it's usually a lot pricier and increases your risk.If you're confident in your construction timeline and in creating forced appreciation, hard money can be a pretty easy win, but it's definitely a lot more risk.

Devonte,Now is a good time to seek out a good independent agent for the Insurance.