Second question... if we can put in LLC, the house is currently titled in both my husband and my names but we were thinking of having him sign it over to me and having the LLC in my name only.  

No you're definitely not paranoid or over thinking, please br careful 

My wife read online that if you use 1031 to purchase an investment property in NYC that as far as houses are concerned, you can only purchase a multi family house and not a single family house or houses.

I would love some advice on trying to navigate this if anyone has purchased a property like this before and wanted to know what are the major things I need to be concerned about.

Do I have to also write down each task in the moment, or can I go back over a week or even a month and flesh out the details in broader strokes?

One thing that Cape Coral does offer over the others though is that being a much larger market, inventory will be more diverse, so you might have better luck finding a specific property type and price point.

I'd love to get details on how easy the process was, as I'm concerned about the city forcing me to get rid of the whole unit itself.

Each new property or business increases their (and your) risk exposure.The LLC helps a catastrophic loss from bleeding over into your other properties.

Your concern as a contractor is also not about if the owner has a PhD in construction so it not clear what these quiz is about.

You should always have a tenant as you're not only serving the 55 and over community (which will continue to grow), but the lower income demographic as well, which is needed.