I have a general strategy question and I’d love to hear from those of you with way more experience than myself… I have a single-family rental I want to pull my equity out of… I had planned to 1031 into a better market...

Your best bet would be to network with other investors and ask them about their projects and budgets and go from there. 

If you have not, great books to read are:Rich Dad, Poor DadThe Millionaire Next DoorCash Flow Quadrant Tax Free WealthSet For LifeRental Property InvestingThe Millionaire Real Estate InvestorThe REAL Book of Real Estate So Good They Can’t Ignore YouYou are more than welcome to reach out if you have any questions.

I don't have any direct experience with real estate investing but I've been inspired by the amount of internet research I've done, talking to a few friends, and my readings (i.e How to Invest in Real Estate, Rich Dad Poor Dad, 12 week year, etc.).I'm interested in initially just buying a house and renting it out to a few people, and then eventually getting into BRRRR sometime afterwords.Would love to connect with anyone out here!

I bet any of you can offer some kind of guidance here and it will definitely help me - good, bad, or ugly. 

Like most, my interest got kickstarted from Rich Dad Poor Dad.

If I'm purchasing for you AND have to rent it, you can bet I'm not going to let you buy something that isn't going to rent well.

Sometimes, you can move them slightly if the income approach is much higher, but your best bet to move an appraisal is meeting the appraiser while they are performing the appraisal and talking up how great the asset is, the improvements, the shortcomings of other comps, etc.  

The $35k 1 month project turned into almost 4 months because of poor coordination on the lead-times for the materials that could've been ordered beforehand and flakey contractors not showing up/ working half days.

Them selling isn't as easy as collecting a check and deep down they want to have the piece of mind that whoever buys isn't going to treat the house poorly or anger the neighbors.