Strongly suggest multi family home as your primary home. 3.5% down FHA up to 4 units, 5% down conventional as a primary. 

REIA meetings and events are a great place to meet individuals with experience in the local market so yes, I highly suggest that you join them specially since your learning REI.

You may be able to change bulbs/lamps and then take them with you when you leavehttps://www.alconlighting.com/blog/newsfeed/health-benefits-....My wife suggested these too, she has a friend that gets SAD.https://www.verywellhealth.com/best-light-therapy-lamps-7372...

We as a firm have investors working with us who have short term rental properties all over the US for example big and small.Finding a real estate-focused tax professional and one who can help with advisory and grow with you would be my suggestion to focus your efforts on finding.

Will a simple notarized agreement between my LLC and him work?

I would suggest to the tenant that they consider shopping for a cheaper electricity supplier:https://energizect.com/2.

I prefer to go on referral basis, but none of the attys my loan officer or real estate agent suggested returned my calls.  

If they suggest less than a $25increase for 1 year or $50 for 2 years, non-renew the lease and sell.

Any suggestion on how to properly value the entitled land? 

Simple.