Hint: most of the time it's just like the rest of us!

My immediate goal is to buy a 2-4 unit property (possibly more), move in to one of the units, and rent out the rest.  

You have to go from the threaded fittings, and YES, replace it from the meter to the rest of the house.

But in response to your first post, your 2 thoughts are sound: a house hack will be something you could do tomorrow and will benefit you immediately and meanwhile learn more about syndications and PE if you're time is better spent at your day job (do what you do best, hire out the rest). 

I also read that Airbnb and VRBO actually automatically deduct taxes from the money paid out to the "landlord" and only pay out the net amount, sending the rest to the Government? 

Live in one unit and rent the rest.  

Based on my planned use during high season I’d be hoping to break even the rest of the year. 

If we do not see an extended period of lockdown, and are able to get the majority of people affected by this crisis back to "normality" fairly quickly, then we should see very typical numbers in the rest of the indicators. 

If it’s a good enough deal and your committed you’ll learn the rest as you go.

I have worked with several other contractors, most of them want a small amount for materials and then payment at completion for the rest of the work, but I think on a longer job, the weekly payments make more sense.