Or partner with a trustworthy and experienced investor.

I'm sure others more experienced than I will be along shortly to offer more advice.

Is it engineered hardwood?

You need comps, go find an experienced Realtor and find good comps.

Ditto, the fact that by living in one of the units you are not earning a lot of the return as income, but rather as money that doesn't have to be spent on rent/mortgage on a primary residence.I'd love to hear what some of the more experienced guys have to say regarding the tax angle, esp. regarding the effect of you living in one of the units.Anyway, congrats again on what looks to be a great investment!

Most people that are working in commercial real estate should be experienced enough to know when talking to someone if they are legitimate or not.

I hold an engineering degree as well as a masters and have worked the past 7 years in aerospace operations.

There will come a point in time where I may feel like I could benefit from from more experienced investors, but I feel it is important to do as much research on my own as possible to fully grasp the concepts of investing before i ever set foot in a classroom or put a dollar on the table

I have been fortunate not to have gone through what several of you have experienced and I have always tried to keep a nice cash reserve available however I was not aware of the 50% rule.

Mold is not something that would scare an experienced rehabber.