If the city is ok with STR's, I then check to see what permits are required for STR operation.

I have a full time job that pays around 170k excluding stock options (which I would like to retain as a separate investment for now but I am open to use that for real estate if required).

If the property is tenant occupied, you should require your tenants to have renters policies and lastly and just as important as the insurance you obtain is knowing all vendors you rely upon to perform work at the property and on your behalf are properly insured.

I would base this on your numbers, not sellers (seller financials are one of the biggest jokes of this industry), and your return requirements.

Also Zelle doesn't allow for the ability to individually enable/disable a tenant in the system.Money orders require driving over to pick up, or the tenant sending them late and then the late fee issue is still there. 

What documents would you require before you contributed funds in any amount?

I do see where it asks me to check the box if I am an active real estate professional, but that looks like it requires 750 hours in a year of work, and I probably had more like 500 or so all together.

However, these strategies require careful financial analysis and planning to ensure that you can obtain sufficient cash flow to cover your expenses and debts Isn't it 7.5?

Ideally to really keep everything separate you'll want to just have your LLC, and not your name, on it and that'd likely require a novation or a new policy(full cost of title insurance paid again).

The original plan was to live in one unit (as requird by the loan terms) for one year and rent out the other, then move & rent both units after the 1 year requirement (currently living with relatives).