Ordinary income is usually less ideal from a tax perspective for folks whose primary source of income is W2.  

This can be very expensive and is usually the worst choice because you can't justify the cost.2.

You need that extra level of "freedom/control."

I think it's always helpful though to put limits on your data research as a new investor because otherwise you can delay making a decision... and, from what I've seen, time is usually your biggest enemy in real estate versus finding the perfect property.  

CU and small local banks usually have the best terms/rates.

For extra toilets, I see that all the tiny houses in the area offers composting toilets (Sun Mar) and people seem to love it.

I was ablet to use a better product, which Home Depot was able to cut to size for me at no extra cost, and installed them all myself (easily and only took about 2 hours), and saves thousands of dollars.

The numbers I've seen on P & L's recently are still good, still better than long term SFH's but usually they are at about a 50% vacancy rate.  

If its an invesmtent you want to make sure you force as close to 30% equity as possible (this is so you can refi and pull as much money out - banks usually only cash out up to 70% LTV). then you need to make sure your rent will cover your new mortgage 70% of the value of the home. 

Depending on the costs of the properties, I usually stick to 1 LLC, 1 million liability policy on each propety through property insurance and an umbrella policy of a few million (depending on the number of properties and totall estimated value).