Welcome to BP William, for your reference this is your profile link - https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/williamb976See you around the site!!!

I am fully educated on what's public online/and how to access that easily, and I'm looking around for subscription/pay options that offer more "actual raw data" (on deeds, history, leins and public records) than the county sites, basically.Research--for anything I identify as potentially interesting.

I hear many recommend to 'consider' LLC after buying more than one properties, not the first and only property.Isn't there a yearly cost to maintain LLC? 

I definitely recommend checking some of the real estate meetups in the area (there are plenty to choose from) to start getting connected with people in similar spots and to find resources to help.Happy to answer any questions you might have.

The first is the interest rate, my guess from the information you gave is that the loan is about 6% which isn't all that bad, but high enough to consider paying it off versus investing in some S&P 500 etf (depending on your marginal tax rate). 

If the software is not simplifying your life or making you more accurate, you shouldn't use it.Software does have extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports.

I am undereducated on most other states but I imagine CO, CA, TN, NY etc all have thriving locations as well, just unsure about their regulations and returns especially in the high tax states.

Pulling theses lists from Propstream has worked well for us (Vacant, Liens, High Equity, Non Owner Occupied, etc). 

Any recommended courses?

For reference, I am self-employed (I run my own online clothing business, i am 1099-k) and I've always been told that it'll be hard for me to get a conventional mortgage when you're self employed, so I am specifically asking about other types of loan options.