One additional piece of advice I have is that when you find an area of real estate that you're interested in, focus on that niche, whether it be flix and flips, wholesaling, buy and hold, etc. 

Additionally, is this a smart decision rather than a few smaller MF deals?

Renting it for a while might be necessary to offset the additional costs.

But in addition to that you don't want to exchange into a "place holder" that you shortly sell. 

I agree it does sometimes does give important additional information over what is listed in the “public” portals, it does not list the listing agent compensation, just the buyer agent compensation.

We would love to do a flip one day but I feel it is an additional risk if you aren't living close by the house  that you are flipping.   

There are additional rules relating to this, but that is the gist of it. 

In addition to a full tenant screening, you can request pay stubs, w2, etc. in the application they submit.

Risk thresholds are very different for everyone.We had one listed for a client at the end of last year, but we saw it get pretty saturated, so we had them remove it, do a few additional repairs, then we relisted. 

The tenant has agreed but asked for an additional 15 days before they move in to get it all together.