How can I start my real estate journey with this initial obstacle hanging over me.

Or is there some kind of hang up I’ll have when trying to buy it as a primary but there are active leases? 

Landlord must authorize all improvements in writing.Tenant may hang pictures on the walls using picture hooks only. 
16.

You can hang out here or post here but the commercial forum would be more appropriate to learn from.  

So basically small to start until I get the hang of it enough to work out the kinks and get a better team in place to support my goals.

I'd hang onto that loan for the next 37 months.Since the property is cash flowing like crazy, I'd also take ~20% of the cash flow and pay down the principal balance over the next 37 months.

We would like to hang onto our house because it's in good shape and we secured a 2.75% interest rate on it which is impossible to come by in recent months.

Not necessarily because FHA is a big feature vs Radiators, but rather because installing Central Air Condition is damn-near a must unless you're shooting for C/D class tenants (and you get the FHA for "free" when you install CAC).Not sure of the market (or climate) in Sioux City though - this would be a good question for your Realtor.

Obviously this is an important decision, but from what I've seen the agents who are self driven to succeed will usually do so regardless of where they hang their license.

Again, there may be something in TX law/practice that explains this - hang tight and see what he says.