There are so many ways to approach this model, from buying existing, to retrofitting homes, to building new.

I negotiated through the original contract and then put the rest of the deal together with an existing group of investors.

PMLs exist, there's zillions of them, real estate investors work with them every day and PMLs fill a need and have a role to play as a specific tools for a specific situation.See if you can put a sharper point on your question.Mike Thanks for this Mike! 

It makes you look like you’re asking for a new build, not an existing home. 2) Anytime you mention big items like HVAC/roof.

Is the market saturated?

@Benoy Varghese When I take over a property I send a letter to the existing tenants introducing myself and telling them where to send rent and provide the necessary information regarding my policy for dealing with maintenance issues.

These don't require you to live in the property, so you could close with the existing tenants in place and then move in once their leases expire.

Also, I'm not sure if you are demoing an existing structure, if the structure is freestanding, etc, but this will obviously greatly affect your overall budget.For our project, most of the material prices are in line with expectations, but where we've been shocked with recent increases is the soft cost. 

Garbage disposals are the bain of the existence to most landlords.

A 1031 exchange is NOT available for owner occupied property so that’s the bad news.The good news is for owner occupied primary residences, for married couples, the first $500,000 of pain is tax free.No need to worry about a 1031, live in the house, sell it, use the $500,000 exclusion and you pay KP tax on whatever profit may exist,2.