I'm not currently operating in MT, so don't worry, I'm not going to try to pitch you on my company, but I'd be happy to talk you through both sides of your options based on my 20 years in this industry niche.

Based on the price per sqft a builder gave me a duplex would be $280k and Triplex $420K roughly.

Yes, The way it works is you can take out 80% LTV based on the purchase price and any repairs or receipts as a total.

 Where you’re based and where you invest (or plan to invest)- I'm based in Dallas, Tx where I was born an raised.

Done and done.If you realize that those above topics are pretty much everything about Self Storage AND you learn those three (precursory will work, in-depth is better), you've got all your bases covered.  

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If I'm in your shoes, I recommend chatting with some local investors (attend a few meetups) to get a good sense of whats possible and not based on others that have a similar W2 scenario as yours. 

We take this to mean (based on 100s of real tax court cases) any activities integral to the business of running a rental.

Without having MLS access it's more difficult, but can be done :) I would not go in with numbers based solely on hopeful STR analytics.

Ask for a comparison based on the current coverage and also any recommendations for better coverage.