I am married to a successful interior designer who serves luxury clients but can work with me to make rental properties look great for half the cost with her knowledge of what makes the most impact.

We track most things manually, but use Apartments.com for the units currently occupied (adding more units in our portfolio will incur the Apartments.com premium cost, so I want to explore my options if software is no longer free). 

@Kevin DuongShort-Stay Rentals (STR) can bring in a lot of cash but also come with high costs for when guests come and go and tough rules.

I marketed this property as a business - as it brought in 155K in gross revenues , could go to 180K with some extra work.I see many people who got into the airbnb game 3 years ago trying to unload now, almost at cost.

(not counting the state LLC cost) I am not going to respond to your SDIRA/LLC consulting service unless you are a lawyer or can quote me a cost. 

Firstly, it has a relatively low cost of living and affordable real estate prices, allowing investors to purchase properties at a lower initial cost compared to many other cities.

People told me I could hire someone to help setup QB for my rentals but this would have cost a couple grand.

Buying for 625K, cost for fix up with 1 ADU about 400K..

While researching and evaluating homes, I had an idea for managing the down payment and emergencies for the first property.When I find a property with good cash flow, I could use a private money lender (PML) to cover the down payment and closing costs.

Whatever you use, make sure it's state-specific.6) Putting a cap on utilities is smart, especially when you're starting out and have no idea what they're going to cost you.