If you dont have a contractor lined up before you buy anything , you will be waiting months before you can start work just looking for a contractor . 

Hoping to be laying down floors in three weeks!

How long should I wait until I buy the second property?

", if you can be thoughtful and diligent and very skeptical, and wait until things are obviously cheap, you will generally outperform 90% of other investors. equation {Buy low + decades} = RichGet a hold of someone on the phone, about the investment, ask a few questions and get their best contact information.

Conventional would work too, but you would have to wait at least a year on seasoning, DSCR is only 6 months.

Similar to what you said I knew I needed cash reserves for our business but didn't want that money laying around in a checking account not earning any interest.For book keeping I recently transitioned from Google Sheets to Stessa. 

I lay out the offer terms I am comfortable with right up front.

The reason is there is usually a resturant or other retail shop there and now you have customers you would never have that WILL spend money while they wait 20 to 30 minutes to charge.

However, it might limit your buyer pool, as owner-occupants may be less interested in waiting for a lease to end or dealing with current tenants.

Can't wait to get started.