It’s part of running rentals ( especially on older buildings ) to have things fail ,water leaks ,systems that need parts ,late paying tenants, and bad toilets .

Takes you a year to season it.

Hi Jake,Unless you have municipal sewer, a perk test results in the area you want to build on (for all seasons if possible) for the number of people you intend to house.Good Luck!

I am in AZ as well It is a busy time for all contractors and the build season is in full swing. 

Just wanted to learn about investing in real estate as a possible source of income when I am older.

If you get an appraisal in Feb, they can only consider Oct-Feb sales... which for us midwest states is the slowest selling season.

I’ve heard it’s mostly just 2 seasons - summer & winter

I figured that I could buy it, refi, get my cash back and then refi into a bank loan after 6 months of seasoning.   

As now a seasoned investor, it is always a great feeling to look back on that first "homerun" investment property, or noteable one that managed to add value to your life. 

So that will be more expensive then conventional but the io helps offset that a bit in terms of monthly cash flow.This can make sense when speed helps or dti/rental history, seasoning of funds etc makes conventional hard to get.