I feel a loss of direction and that makes it really hard for me to focus and build.Do we keep at building a portfolio of small multi family (very abundant in my market, very rare to find anything above a triplex for sale), with plans of selling the portfolio and 1031'ing into larger properties? 

Living in one of the units is a great idea when starting out so you can limit your living expenses.

Since companies have a limited lifespan (10–18 years on average), cities must attract new businesses to maintain job opportunities.Factors Companies Consider:Low Operating Costs: States with lower property taxes and insurance costs.Low Crime Rates: High-crime cities deter businesses and tenants alike.Natural Disaster Risks: Avoid areas prone to disasters, as recovery can take years, impacting your rental income.City Size and InfrastructureFocus on cities with metro populations over 1 million.

Quote from @Sam Evrard: How do you go about finding areas to invest in with limited capital? 

Low prices enable more people to buy, limiting demand for rental properties so rents decline (in inflation-adjusted dollars).Population Growth: In areas with growing populations, demand outpaces supply, driving up property prices.

For deals I do, I try to write in under the inspection section in the purchase agreement, “any and all recommend by home inspector including but not limited to inspections checked no above.”

Like you, when I'm working with clients I highlight the key advantages of the conventional rehab loans (Fannie Mae's Homestyle and Freddie Mac's CHOICERenovation) are:- They can be used for investment properties- You can include luxury items- They have a higher limit – $806,500 in most places.Jeff

Granted I might ask for limited representation and pay accordingly..   

If I was to trade a $300k house for a $310k house that will cost me $10k and $347/month what amount should I ask for to make up for these losses?

With enough knowledge you can make a educated decision on which approach you take.My experience:I personally don't sign up for any program who take you aside during events and try to sell packages that is just blatant sales strategy.Once you sign up there is every attempt to make you sign for their programs for bookkeeping, registered agent, LLC or corp setup fee which have ridiculous even with platinum membership.Basic standard structure they suggest to take advantage of multiple deductions can be easily achieved by proper education or work with a good firm like https://wcginc.com  who is local to you.A umbrella C-crop to manage all other LLC properties and take advantage of many tax deductions that are not available with a llc, its also used to take losses up to 100K as startup expenses and dissolve the entity after few years.Few LLC entities for investing in Real Estate, etc preferably in Wyoming or Nevada ( you can find many companies online who can do this for $150 compared to anderson $1500-$3000) , they will claim they have a secret Operating agreement which is bogus.They certainly try to take advantage of tax loopholes and claim to be smart people, my view they are just taking advantage of numbers as per their own statements.