My question is, being my first investment home, should I bother with hiring some kind of designer to help with the material choices/colors/styles/etc or keep with the contractor and work toward a plan and scope of work that way?

After 3 months of fruitless negotiations with this person, buyout offers, debt forgiveness, appealing to ethics, etc. we had two moves on the chessboard left.Meanwhile in the bat cave....the string tenant had decided to move their belongings into each of the 5 bedrooms, install their own interior security cameras, fill up the garage and office with their cars and mechanics equipment.  

Please note the information provided below is a layman's definition designed to provide a basic understanding for the general audience.

I'm bringing the deal, which I've carefully analyzed and managing the whole process from purchasing, furnishing, designing, managing, etc (this is for a short term rental) If I didn't need them to take out the loan I would just do a pay back monthly with a 5 year balloon after cashing out equity from the house.  

Just don't get into the mechanicals, electrical and plumbing (MEP's) and you should be good.

For instance, inadequate/improperly designed water diversion systems can cause major problems (e.g.; rot, masonry degradation, foundation settling) that won't emerge for several years.

A household with more than $1MM in net worth excluding their personal residenceThere are some other options and more details, but if you can check either of the items above, you are safe to call yourself an accredited investor.The more complicated designation is the Sophisticated Investor.

It was designed and built by JAS (https://jasdesignbuild.com/).

Whether this is by design or because they are overwhelmed by their own success remains to be seen.HOWEVER, for those that have spoken to the company and felt that they were on the level, I would say follow your gut but be very sure you take responsibility for doing your own due diligence.

It starts with a self-directed IRA held by a custodian, but the IRA simply makes one investment into a specially designed LLC entity.