I would look at multifamily meet ups in the area to start.

There was a hold up on sewer capacity , they found out they had to get an easement from the state to cross a state road , that took time .

But it, rent rooms, Fix it up. 

I use Proper insurance, unwritten by Lloyds of London, for my STR - covers the extra issues you would expect from an STR like vandalism, alcohol liabilities, business interruption up $10k, hot-tub cooties etc.

I haven't read up on house hacking yet, but I don't believe that living in the property for a year before renting it out will be an option for me.   

If you're $400 below market rate I'd give them chance to "catch up".

If the leases end up in the realm of where we believe they will the value of the building will go up a good amount and we will have close to 1 million in equity.  

My experience has been with correspondence audits, so that's just a lot of paper moving back and forth (and sometimes some follow-up phone calls).

I’m in the learning phase and saving up the cash for my 1st deal.

in a stick frame market and one of the cheapest markets to build we build with margin at $190 or so a square foot. that will go up over time about 5% or 10% a year to keep up with new build price increases. we are buidling a 3 story walk up and source some of the lowest priced crews.