I could not have the toilet in the hallway as it was at the time of purchase :)First have your lender lined up and know your numbers (APR, etc).You don't want to tie up all of your cash and then be stuck for months trying to find a lender to work with.

Starting out you will be like the miner who works 80 hours a week on his gold mine and only shows a little color for his efforts.Get into a pre licensing class.

I'm also a bit frustrated with the property manager (who is from a professional firm), because they didn't seem to do a pre-rental inspection.

Once the lender looks at your finances, they'll issue you a pre approval with an attached fee sheet showing what you can expect to pay at closing (fees, prepaids, etc).  

I looked into both Shipping Container options and a pre-fab Tiny Home option.

The owners live in the main house and do not rent.The property is lakeside with a small/medium sized ski resort within 15 minutes. 

Funding: "Fix n Flip" hard money loan with a $20k rehab baked into the loan. 12% APR with the payment being 1% of the loan each month.

The best I could find for a real estate loan is 4.2% APR with 3% down and no pmi.

APR is $135,000.Debts to be Paid Off $80,885.00Discount Points $3,016.24 Appraisal Fees $500.00 Credit Report Fee $13.75 Undisclosed Debt Report $31.25 Prepaid Interest $188.64 Insurance Renewal $468.00 Insurance Escrow Reserves $195.00 Tax Escrow Reserves $422.00 Title Fees $700.00 Lender's Title Insurance $288.00CountyTaxes $178.00 County Recording Fees $137.50 Total Costs $87,023.38Total Estimated Due at Closing ($14,265.62) Essentially, we would be going from $28,700 invested to $12,800 invested.

I would start by getting a pre-approval from a lender for your FHA loan.