That will help you build confidence and a nice understanding of the process.Do not follow the advice of all these instagram "gurus" telling you how they flip 50 houses a month from their couch is pure BS or how they do 10 BRRRRs all over the country.

Purely my opinion ...What we've been seeing is not inflation, it's corporate price gouging.There was a report on Good Morning America today about breakfast cereal, for example.

Pure mistake was leaving one of my rentals doing some maintenance saw the FSBO sign.

Do I pay tax on the entire $14,500 from the sale in 2019 (according to IRS) or just 3,000 down payment as profit (I assume down payment is pure profit and not a reduction of basis?)

As we are seeing with many syndicators, this is a risk that might pay off and very well might not.What would make a lot more sense, from a purely financial standpoint: buy ALL CASH, execute value add plan to drive unleveled yield over interest rate, then refi out as much as possible.  

Commercial package policies are fun since you can part them in and out - if those are annual I'd be worried you're missing coverage, but if they are monthly see if your broker is appointed with REInsure Pro or Steadily - they've been pure fire for my clients.

Did you buy this with the intention of renting it out or was that pure luck? 

I believe the FHA/203k loans are only for owner occupied homes so that can't be used for a pure rental but could be used for a duplex house hack which sounds like a great option (but I can't say I've done it myself).

Or jump-in purely as investor?

Purely my own opinion based on the research I've done.