But everyone has their own unique financial situation, financial goals and risk tolerance.

Great goal to shot for though..

He was a realtor based in the Midwest (I think the greater Chicago area) and was talking about off vs. on market deals and the importance of choosing equity over cash flow. 

Pick a lane based on your strengths and long-term goals.

It seems more your fault for choosing the "lying" contractors from the tenants point of view, if you ask them to pay up, I'm sure they would.

For this reason, many investor agents choose them. 

If you do choose to invest out of state, the best advice I could give you based on what I have observed running a local real estate group here for over a decade is build your own team.

The BRRRR strategy is doable for a newer investor, but it requires a lot of effort, consistency, and hands-on involvement—it's not exactly a passive way to invest.Whichever route you choose, if you're taking on the bulk of the work to analyze deals and select the best ones, it’s important to ensure your partnership reflects the time and energy you’re putting in.

I’m currently going through the process of getting a HELOC and feel confident we’d be able to fund a purchase using that but using PML has ultimately been a goal of mine and would like to incorporate it into one of these purchases if possible. 

Almost all mortgage loans these days have Due on Sale clauses, so it comes down to A) whether they find out (usually from changes in the insurance policy), and B) whether they choose to call the loan.