My recommendation would be to engage an investment property focused realtor (not a general residential realtor) and let that person guide you through the process from pre-qualification to market/property valuation and selection. 

We’re looking to increase our lifestyle through the decrease in housing and built a little passive income medium term. 

Anything that involves a load bearing wall will generally need an architect IME, but it can also be required (maybe indirectly) through the jurisdiction's building code/enforcement.Got it, thank you for lending your expertise!

It may be more difficult to get financing and a good rate buying through an LLC. 

The property was listed as a probate, so I had to go through my agent.

When I did my research for buying my properties in Costa Rica, I had one of the big STR management companies like Evolve analyze my potential profits and I used that info to raise money through bringing on partners to buy the properties. 

. - Accelerated growth through combined efforts. 2.

There are a few concerns that made me question going through with it, but I have a few contingencies for backup if anything goes wrong.

Looks like they're trying to sell lending services through their app.

This is the BEST $100 you will ever spend, and if you listen to Amanda Han's tax book, you'll know it's also likely a business expense for you to write off :) https://biggerpockets.supercast.com/My perfect way to learn from the BP books is to listen to the audio book through the subscription above, then books that really stand out to me I go old school and get the physical copy so that I can re-read it, take notes in the margins, and put post it notes so key points are easier for me to re-reference in the future.