This information and a walk through are normally required to formulate an offer.Copies of leases will typically not be made available until you have a accepted offer and have entered your diligence period.When it comes to credit reports and background checks, they vender may not be permitted to share them with you.  

Once you have an idea of what you want to invest in then the questions will be easier to answer and it will be easier for you to formulate a plan.The suggestion @Joel Owens made in the podcast is geared towards complexes with a larger number of units which requires a lot more capital, time and effort to get from 60% to 85-90% occupancy.  

I would consider listening to as much of the BP Podcast as you can, as listening to the stories of others will help you formulate a plan! 

I'll say that the "journalist" who wrote the article and formulated the title didn't seem to have done much research. 

Hello all, I am about to have some money saved up and I want to spend it smartly. I’ve been reading about real estate and the like for a few years now and I’m really interested in pursuing it for some long-term wealth...

This will give you a better idea in formulating your numbers to help you to give the seller a price and increase your awareness of contractor pricing for all of your subsequent deals.

In a good/high cashflow location (based on the spreadsheet shared by Kailyn Bennett and formulated by Dave Meyer bp cash flow xls) https://biggerpockets.com/files/user/kailynb1/file/2022-cashflow-marketsRentable even at 85% vacancyLocation expected to grow in upcoming year(s)Ability to handle deferred maintenance ($25K - $100K)Affordability of professional property managementRefinancing 18-24 months out makes sense (BRRRR-type model)Also important are the relationships surrounding the deal.

Yes, thats a possibility and a good idea but since I havent quite formulated my plans for a 1031 exchange after selling, Id rather just wait before even starting that conversation.

@Kyle Castaneda keep in mind with HELOCs there are only two options as far as payment, the most common option is interest only payments with variable rates, so you would need to formulate a plan to pay off the whole remaining balance of the HELOC at some point or you could go with the option of paying back the principal and interest which is a fixed interest rate but keep in mind the monthly payments for the HELOC would be a lot higher than interest only option. the promissory note would only be a binding agreement between you and your father . it would not be put together with the loan of the house. from the banks perspective it would be seen as a gift to you. 

I should be reading the lease end to end. i have the old leases and have hired a lawyer to formulate a new one.