See what your budget gets you in each market, if it were me I'd probably go with the bigger city for more long term growth, but that is just my style.

Its kinda of different topic, but go find your new favorite bank lender, mortgage lender, or a mortgage broker.It will take more information and potentially your personally investing style to figure out whether you should use a hard money loan or a conventional loan. 

Contractor proposed building a sliding barn door style closet in the middle with bookshelf/shelving on each side.

I honestly feel like flipping will be my style since I don’t wanna be dealing with tenants and I believe given your properties to a property management really don’t make a lot of difference since you will end up paying every expenses that they will spend on the house and still have to pay management their commissions.

Now if I had a 20k a night place on Lake Tahoe with 12 bedrooms and helipad, then I can see that, but not for a family oriented lake house in north Idaho.Or refinery housing!

Sidewalks and parking lots dotted with festive café-style tables, umbrellas or tents as restaurants reinvent outdoor spaces to take advantage of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “L.A.

Other than that you can really dig into researching your given area and style of investing so you are ready when the time comes.

In some cases that loan should include rehab costs.I am looking for suggestions and advice on the types of loans best suited to buying and holding single family homes with at least one additional unit on the property and/or 2-4 unit 1-2 bedroom cottage style units.

For something like this where it is almost frat house style hopefully without the parties you will need town and neighborhood buy in. 

@Amanda WilliamsI have done this exact job for BRRRR investors and granted my FT job is commercial construction manager so I feel I hold myself to a high standard on these BRRRR flips, but the best way is a flat fee based on 1 2hr site visit per day, he writes a schedule ahead of time that he is held to Gantt Chart style.