You're making a fairly common mistake of designing your castle when you haven't even learned how to build a chicken coop.

I am an architectural designer from Trinidad and Tobago, who is new to Real Estate and real estate investing.

Then work with an architect for design.

However the property has a freeway behind it and hence no rear neighbors /more privacy.You’re going to see low or negative returns with minimum down payments in that area unless you’re going BIG as in much larger homes and much heftier budgets for design/amenities.There’s great cashflow on the Clearwater/Largo/Seminole/StPete side - you’re looking at 2 high cashflow buckets that I call Tier 1 and Tier 2. 

Architecture did a design and well respected contractor estimated the buildout of 4 plex would be an additional ~800k for total project cost of ~1M. it would be ~1.2M for the 7 plex.  

Software: Stessa for accounting, Deal Check for quick and dirty analysis of potential purchasesMarket positioning: Pet-friendly (fenced-yard, accept dogs and cats), well-designed homes, off-street parking, suburban, full cable TV package (not streaming only)Pricing: Targeting upper-middle market (not budget-conscious guests)So far, so good (since 2020)

The time period you select is whatever you are comfortable with.

Clearly, you wouldn't be comfortable investing there and that's totally fine.

There are companies out there who handle the entire process for you from top to bottom so it can be a very safe, comfortable investment that's seamless for you.Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Ultimately, it depends on how quickly you want to act and your comfort with leverage.