But as a pure rental prospective, you paid too much.

I would feel way more comfortable with my contractor just focusing purely on getting the houses done

This is purely asking which type of lending you believe is the best route.

My bias was toward this being purely a rental.

Been thinking about BRRRR instead of a pure flip since building a rental portfolio is the ultimate goal, but the equity just isn’t there for that “repeat” part of the BRRRR.

I'm not sure about a 1% difference between SFH's vs MFR's but I do know there is about a 1% difference in the interest rates between primary residence/owner-occupied properties and pure investment properties so that may be the issue.

My question is, if I purchase a rental property purely as an investment and I don't live in it, could I still qualify for a first time homebuyers programs when I go to buy a house to live in?

This is basically a pure speculation play - it is very likely that it may work out as you are expecting, but I personally wouldn't like the fact that I have essentially no control over the opportunity to make a profit. 

, most cites in the Denver metro area either don't allow short-term rentals in a purely investment property or, if they don't outlaw it, are looking at regulations to regulate it heavily.What city are you looking at? 

And then that has to be compared with how much it would cost to build/have built a suitable structure in that location.My guess (purely speculation) is that since it would have to be new construction, the return on the dollar invested wouldn't make it worth it.