BP would of saved me a lot of newbie mistakes!!! 

If you can move into a place and work on it, saving yourself overhead, protecting your project, those can be good things and you'll also meet the neighbors and probably pick up more deals that way. 

I have money saved and I'm ready to invest this money.My plan is to house hack a 4-plex ideally but I'm fine with a duplex or triplex at our next base in Minot North Dakota as a first investment. 

You also did not say what your type selection is, makes it kind of difficult to answer what you should do and if you have saved any money for a down payment. 

Yes, it's taking longer, but I'm still saving more than what the carrying costs are.  

It's not uncommon to see 3 or 4 individuals bunk up and share a house to save money, most of the time I will encourage it to someone who is afraid to live on their own.The Biggest Challenge?

I initially considered the 203k, but my broker advised to do the conventional due to saving on the pmi and extra hoops to jump through with the FHA loan.

Whatever you pay your PM, assuming their good, is worth it because they’ll save you a lot more money down the road.

I’ve found that for the time investment it requires, I really don’t save that much doing it myself since I’m less efficient than the pros are.

I have talked to the Hendricks County Assessors office a few times and it sounds like if you designate a property as a rental with the county they say it can (depending on the area and the current assessed value) save you money on real estate taxes.