With long-term tenants in place that want to stay i believe it's a solid deal.

All they would do is owner occupied purchase with 5% or more down, on a single family home (guess who established a solid referral relationship with that CU in about April 2020? 

I have solid connects with finding deals, and on the construction side of things.

MLS is quite unreliable, but speaking on the Birmingham area alone, I do not see many properties that I can could really make a solid deal on.Huntsville, AL looks very promising, but I am not as familiar with that area though unfortunately.Any experienced investors want to lend some words on wisdom here?

I'm not entirely familiar with the NY market but I imagine you'd have to venture out pretty far from the city in order to house hack something that would appreciate enough to be a solid investment.You can generate passive income much more quickly by going out of state (the midwest in particular).

Most people go the other way, so have a solid and true explanation (that isn't I want to increase the number of units in my portfolio using owner occupied financing). 

How solidly do we want to accept the word of one appraiser?

What are the steps I should take to get a solid estimate for ARV and rehab cost.

Knowing that capital gains will take a solid chunk, do I hold on or take the cash and dump into my current primary that is a 1930 fixer upper but can yield a very high return as well? 

I’m just currently reading up on investing from a distance and having a really solid team for you.