Given you did NOTHING to prepare yourself to rent this property out, you obviously either don't have the time to be a DIY landlord or are NOT motivated. 

Also probably worth mentioning my father is a handy man and I'm not bad with minor DIY myself, which is another thing pulling my attention to real estate investing. 

  - installment loan (car, etc) - RE loan, when you can qualify.  

Many OOS investors set themselves up for failure because they don't truly take the time to understand:1) The Class of the NEIGHBORHOOD they are buying in - which is relative to the overall area.2) The Class of the PROPERTY they are buying - which is relative to the overall area.3) The Class of the TENANT POOL the Neighborhood & Property will attract - which is relative to the overall area.4) The Class of the CONTRACTORS that will work on their Property, given the Neighborhood location - which is relative to the overall area.5) The Class of the PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANIES (PMC) that will manage their Property, given the Neighborhood location and the Tenants it will attract - which is relative to the overall area.6) That a Class X NEIGHBORHOOD will have mostly Class X PROPERTIES, which will only attract Class X TENANTS, CONTRACTORS AND PMCs and deliver Class X RESULTS.7) That OOS property Class rankings are often different than the Class ranking of the local market they live.8) Class A is relatively easy to manage, can even be DIY remote managed from another state.

To each their own when it comes to criteria, but as per info I got from the city here in Lafayette, it costs ~$600 for them to install a new water meter (this may cost more for an electrical meter or even gas).

What you're talking about - a full gut, moving walls and plumbing - will easily get you into the $20k+ range.Check out Jeff Thorman from Home Renovision DIY if you want tutorials on YouTube.

I am looking for products to install;no one I know seems install flor free yet. but I come across this website. http://patricksheedy.net/blog/gutter-covers-leaf-guard-review/

Those folks may possibly want to minimize the near term tax hit by doing an installment sale.

Then, I go in and install all of the utilities and road while I am building the duplex.

Paint is cheap, and if you DIY it the labor is "free".