Suncoast rented all three units within 3 weeks of closing, but as a matter of transparency, we offered a 25% off first month's rent incentive.

If it is bad enough that can suppress rental rates but a family looking for $2000/month rental is not going to consider $3000/month units.

@Jonathan PantagesContact your local self-storage facility, and see what it costs to rent a unit to store the tenant's items.

If nothing else, they may be able to at least answer the question of what to do regarding panel access for your upper unit.

@Shaun Beck we do a lot of leasing and will likely lease up 80-100 units this year as a company.

I’m targeting mid-level rentals as investments (buildings that rent for $1500-$2000) / unit.

Yes you would certainly need to close off the upstairs from the downstairs preferrably with a wall, placed in an area that you can easily take down later down the road when you sell, not to say that you couldn't sell it as a 2 unit but it would be nice for you to keep that option later down the road. 

Due to this, on one property only one of the two units have been rehabbed.  

When I imagine how I'd start out, naturally, I am thinking about acquiring a local property - probably a single family home because the multi-family units are out of my price range (for now). 

I live here and my portfolio is definitely more LTR but I do own several airbnb units here too.