I walked the property yesterday with the company that will be doing our plans and gained a lot of useful insight.

Additionally, I plan to place signs on the inside of the door and panel explicitly stating that it's not to be used.

These would hopefully allow me to keep the property which is my ideal situation.Additionally, I could wait until April this year since it will be 2 years as primary residence and then sell/1031 into a new property that would hopefully make a better long term rental while avoiding capital gains tax.Which option sounds like the better plan?

Then I program each lock with my own code so I can always gain access to my units if needed

Good advice by Jay to compare additional tax vs profit to see if it's worth it.

Does the builders typically have additional negotiation room ( the commission they would have otherwise paid the realtor), if a buyer directly approach the builder. ?

If I hold onto them I would like to get my cash out and look for additional properties.

When buying properties that have been vacant for a long time, budget for additional plumbing costs on the rehab.

I am currently reading “How to Invest in Real Estate” by Joshua and Brandon to get insights into basics of some popular strategies and then plan to start analyzing deals to gain better insight into what currently feels like a good fit for me.

If you put enough work into a property and have spent 5-10 years there to gain some appreciation, you may be in a position where you could refinance and gain equity on your refinance.