Interest rate shouldn't be the biggest concern, qualification and then terms (amortization, balloon, ARM or fixed) and then interest rate to back into profitability is the way I look at it.

Biggest piece of advice is to make sure the numbers work BOTH as a house hack and pure rental.

The biggest problems we have are with wholesalers misrepresenting what they are doing.

There are other creative financing techniques (partners, owner financing, wrap arounds, etc), however, items 1 & 2 seem to be the biggest impasses that I see young investors running into when they are starting their careers - the third is the down payment, which you have - well played. 

How much time you need to gain appreciation depends on the asset, the sub market, and most importantly the investor choosing and managing the asset, and in the most extreme example your lifespan.Risk in real estate investing comes from two sources. the 1st and biggest contributor is investor error.

The biggest piece of advice I can give from this experience is don't try to do everything yourself.

Podio and other CRM’s can be super customizable, so DO NOT keep yourself from completing revenue generating activities attempting to customize your CRM.

It's a great way to drive revenue on a SFH, assuming you have the space for it.

1) Not investing - Not investing in this asset class is the ultimate, biggest mistake you will make with your finances.

The cash flow on the 5 would certainly out perform the 4. 5 units also spreads your monthly revenue out over more tenants giving you more cushion from vacancies.I'm curious about the reason someone told you to go with 4 units.