A SAFE offering for early stage capital is an option and functions largely like a note. 

Attend local RE associations and meetups (once group functions are allowed again), and meet people doing what you want to do.

Will they accept lower if I explain that the ARV and repairs will barely combine to be the purchase price (it does not fit the 70% rule or the 2% rule) 

When the appraiser came out, he estimated what the combined market rents would be on the appraisal, in our case $3550/mo.

Also keep in mind that combining your finances with you wife for a bigger multi-family using FHA or similar loans might end up better than 2 separate investments--1 roof and as much as 4 units.

And even after doing that work, if the utilities are combined the landlord will be paying them. 

I assume all of them have a built in functionality to edit minimum stays so that if you get july 1-8 and July 9-10, you can open yourself up with a single nigh t(if someone really wants to waste their money on that).

The price points combined with the steady job growth here make the rental market strong and improving by the day!

I usually use 5%, but this is pretty localized.20% combined for repairs and CapEx is conservative.

Some of these functions have moved to bigger stores or are popular in malls too.