4.FHA Loan – Since I plan to live in the home, would an FHA loan be an option?

Real estate is a slow game, where you don't become instantly, but its return can be beneficial in the long run.

We have decided to go with the renting route, but we feel the mud needs to be replaced with something more appealing.

If you dig in on the south or west side, you should be getting deals that are distressed enough to just use regular hard/bridge/private money that is expensive. 

I would love to build a portfolio, if anyone can guide me to which pockets are the best for rental and brrr method in Memphis would be a great help since I'm not local to memphis.

Regarding paying off the SBA-HEDCO loan, the primary downside to paying it off early would be losing out on a relatively low interest rate.

Yes, the landlord laws may not be as friendly, but maybe I could just be really stringent when fielding tenants?

That can be hard to tell.

These houses seem to be in decent condition, clear photos, etc renting at a reasonable price compared to the newer listings.

If we take the minimum for credit, it will be $100 instead of $2,000 or less.We have stock portfolio that we don't want to touch for the rehab around $200,000 that is liquid upon selling.