Real estate is basically an income producing and or capital gain producing investment.  

At that point in time, we can just list the property and sell it. we have long-term capital gains rather than short-term capital gains, we would have probably experienced some appreciation during that time.

Your problem will be them incurring capital gains taxes simply so you can get a commission.

It's mostly Class A properties, a few Class B.You may find the below copy & paste info useful in addressing your question:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

In the meantime I would put the money in a low risk account gaining 4-5% which for $250k would be around $1k/month.

I understand it can be harder to gain experience with larger multifamily properties compared to single-family homes or duplexes, where someone might complete 5 deals in 1-2 years.

Unfortunately. this is typically considered normal wear and tear.

Typically homes in-between tenants, or a new purchase with intent to have renters within 30 days this is allowed. 

The ARV on small multifamily can be a bit tricky as most appraisers will like to use the comparable approach as to an income/NOI approach typically used by larger (5+) multifamily properties.

For a new agent to land a listing they typically over promise a seller a high price to win it and then spend money trying to find the magical buyer to purchase it.