I'd say start small and really dive into your research.

Have you assembled this team yet?

By doing this you'll start to see which strategies might better align with your resources (time, money, energy, connections, etc) and your future goals.

I know an LLC is not necessary to invest in rental properties, but I’ve decided this would be a better option for me in the long run.

I have been listening to BP since i was 15 and I am so excited to learn and grow in this community and hopefully to eventually invest with some of you as well.

This is prefect , I got so many good ideas for next steps from this post but you really laid it out for me. 

Purchase price: $400,000 Cash invested: $200,000 Bought this fixer upper 2 family house with 2 bed 2 bath and converted it to a 4 bedroom 2.5 bathroom with finished basement.

There is a lot more paperwork for these traditional mortgages and they will probably take 2-4 weeks longer, but you could save quite a bit in fees and rate.Otherwise, DSCR or a commercial loan is the way to go.You may be engaging in overkill if this is your first property and you are trying to put it into an LLC.

Will agree with this, but will add that strawberry mansion is a no for me too.

This involves purchasing a property with 1 to 4 units using an owner-occupant loan.