The ultimate costs are about the same.   

My ultimate goal is to invest in real estate but I am having trouble gaining initial traction and identifying which steps will be the most instrumental in fulfilling this objective.

To give myself ultimate comfort I want to advertise and “verbally” confirm a tenant or two.

My partner and I spent a long time debating which bank had best but at the end of the day realized we are BRRRRing ideally and thus the refinancing numbers were ultimately more important. 

If you haven't done so yet you'll get some value out of reading The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods.

As someone with ADHD, self-employment is more necessity than choice.

Yeah, this falls into "lifestyle choice" - they can do whatever they want.

@Hugh Wagner,Whether or not to lend from an LLC is more a matter of choice than liability (I'm not an attorney).

@Gokhan Cukurova - your ultimate end goals are going to drive this decision.  

Ideally, we'd be zeroed in on one or two neighborhoods, but with the travel, we've decided to remain flexible and keep an eye on one or two in each town.The ultimate goal is, of course, to quit the day job in 2 years and do this full time, allowing us to focus on one town in order to make things more efficient.