Around here a lot of the homeowners that end up actually selling to investors are older people who don't really utilize the internet much.

See: Atlanta utility charges They cite figures of $150/unit.

The upstairs unit is currently occupied by a contractor/friend of mine who has agreed to fix the place up on his own (me paying for materials) if he could have a break in the rent (charging a couple hundred under market).

I would advise them to educate themselves on business, real estate, and do some soul searching through self-improvement material.

Hello - I am looking to do a 1031 Exchange and utilize all of the proceeds from the sale as a down payment on several new properties. 

Most new construction these days is from class A apartments due to land,legal, construction materials, and labor costs.

Unlikely they would be comfortable underwriting your policy if they knew you’d be renting that floor out without two means of egress.I would recommend consulting with your insurance agent before utilizing that space, and taking whatever precautions he/she recommends.

As a newbie investor I formed my business model around utilizing Hard/Asset based lending.

When RE and rental markets are hot, that trickles down to all of the trades and building materials.

I gathered all my notes in a 50+ pages document touching on formation and maintenance of LLC and business structures, transferring assets, protection strategies, trusts, anonymity, insurance, levels of protection, etc. including when you should do it, how many properties per LLC, due on sale clause, selecting an attorney, fees, checklists and resource materials.