Now my question is, the utilities.  

I am just starting and have a tight marketing/education budget so I really only want to pick the best experiences that will make me money and I can utilize forever in my new career.

Right now my credit cards offer 0% until Feb 2020 - it means I can buy a house for cash, update it and refinance in 6 mo after my Tenants moved inIf you want to pay such high interest on your rentals, it's much better to find a hard money lender then.When you utilize credit card close to 100%, your FICO will drop really bad.

Looking for the best advice on an assistant for low cost as im trying to pay the IRS from last year and pay down dept to utilize bank funds more often.

Because you could house hack a multifamily property and probably get the most bang for your buck utilizing a VA loan.

You should never take on debt if you have no plan for how to utilize it.

Are we making the right decision by trying to utilizing the equity in our primary or going about this all wrong?

Taxes are 869/yr, utilities paid by tenants, insurance (approximating 500).  

No, there shouldn't be a rooster at the property that attacks the appraiser, and yes the utilities should be on and functional when the appraiser shows up.

@Francis Morris, I like the following sites for market metrics like the one's you mentioned:Berkadia.comMarcus and MillichapCBRECensus.gov (specifically factfinder.census.gov and utilizing the guided search feature)The Marcus/Millichap and CBRE also have a property search feature where you can look at OM's for listed properties.