As long as you have your down payment, closing costs, reserves, and anticipated rent covers the debt service you should have no problem.

Ask the tenant for a forwarding address for their deposit, if they don't give one send the deposit to your rental with the words ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED in the middle of the empty area between the address block and the stamp.

I have a no animal policy (unless it's service animal which is required by law).

If you need to evict a tenant and don't get paid for 6 months and in addition need to pay several thousand to repair the place to rent back out will you be able to handle that?

Rental income if you are not a real estate professional is considered passive income, even with the repair efforts you are doing.

I'd be interested in learning more about your construction services to see if there is an opportunity to help one another. 

You can explore public records for properties that meet your criteria or pay a list service.

This is why so many are poor services, there trying to be max profitable and trying to do as little as possible for as much as possible, and that is not sustainable as you will burn through clients as building poor rep from a string of dropped balls. 

Establish connections with real estate brokers that focus on investment properties.Funding: Explore various funding options, such as partnerships, hard money lenders, private lenders, and conventional mortgages.Make use of your experience in building to precisely estimate repair costs and provide prospective lenders with well-prepared project proposals.Look into any grants or incentives that may be available to real estate investors on a local and federal level.Create a concise business strategy that outlines your objectives, both short- and long-term, target properties, and investment tactics.Remember, each real estate market is unique, so adapt your strategies based on your local conditions.

And you probably already understand this, but another part is how your approaching your marketing, amentities, and hospitality service on the platforms itself.