I am looking to gain as much knowledge and connections as possible, so I feel confident taking the next steps. 

I made the mistake of letting them stay.

can i rent my primary house as rental property for 3 years and come back and stay as primary after 3 years ( this is basically to avoid the tax) . is it still considered as primary residence or is it considered as rental property

A local real estate agent with knowledge of multifamily homes in the region should be consulted.Check that the rent reported for the inhabited side is accurate.

We then set you up with a team on the ground (consisting of an agent, project manager, general contractor, and property manager) who you will leverage to verify or change our initial numbers as needed; they have hyper-local and real-time knowledge that is invaluable to reducing your required input time and reducing your risk.

Checking out Furnished Finder, Aribnb/VRBO (30+ day stays) and looking at sites like AirDNA (only for STR data) can be great ways to do some easy market research on your own.

I also wouldn’t mind working for someone for free, as long as I’m gaining knowledge and wisdom about REI.

I bought a turn key rental for one of my first and I learned a tremendous amount of knowledge from jumping in and making a move. 

Stay disciplined in your rental requirements, as long as they are not too strict but your agent should have advised you on this.

She says she loves the place and wants to stay but from right now she is 3 months behind @650.00 a month.