I am a veterinarian and absolutely love my career, however I feel strongly that real estate could be an excellent side-gig or even perhaps a great way to move into a second career whenever I'm ready to retire from veterinary medicine. 

My guess is to 1031 into an 8 unit.

I negotiated down, but wish I would have negotiated down price more as I ended up putting in a bit more than expected into renovation.

I'm only on here to take a quick break!

But please go in to this expecting to break even and learn for free.

We did a 1031 exchange to roll the money into our dream home.

Look around, put the work and effort into it and see what YOU think is the right one for you.  

Can I pay him from the tenant's security deposit for the time and effort he put into repairing the unit? 

Used equity in another property to limited by down payment to $6500, other cash put into paint and minor cosmetics How did you add value to the deal?

You would have to refi your FHA into conventional on the one you live in now, which would probably work and you could be at a better rate also.