Now's the time to learn creativity, and not to be afraid to put in lower offers based on actuals.Create and stick to your buy right criteria, and network like crazy with brokers in your market.Rates are high, relatively speaking for everyone.

I would plan to put in a 5% down payment on the home.My goal with this is to buy a cheaper home first, fix it up, and roll equity from that for the next big house/goal "dream" home in the future.

We put in a trouble ticket and had it done in a week or so.

So, investors put in capital as part of the equity (could be debt or preferred equity, etc.) for the purchase. 

You can put in another offer a month down the road it if is still for sale.

They are going to put in a certain amount of work and their own money on marketing, photos, their overhead costs (agents are independent contractors who pay their own E&O and health insurance, income taxes, MLS dues, NAR dues, continuing ed requirements, etc., etc. all out of their commissions before they get to keep any $), their time, etc. then they also have to split anything they make with their brokerage. $4k would be losing money for me but again it sounds like a lower cost of living area.   

I was distracted and talking to someone about fix and flips and letting them know that the sale is taxed as ordinary income instead of capital gains and completely messed up what I was trying to point out.I was trying to say that STRs may help to offset some ordinary income with losses if you actively participate, whereas LTR losses only offset passive income unless you are classified as a real estate professional.

Between him and his spouse, being 50+ (both I assume) they could put in a total of $16k per year.

it looks like a hopless situation for me.I had all of my life savings put in Yucca Vally short term rentals In  early 2022. got 4 nice villas at 20% equity. then 2 things happened: rates went up and demand for vacation rentals in that location went WAY down. 

I don't have a preference for age in terms working with other folks but young can be good from an energy, optimism and having enough time to put in the extra hours when needed (usually a younger person is not going to have a spouse, 2-3 kids and a bunch of other responsibilities).