You can generally get the best terms (max leverage and best rates) on an owner-occupied house.

If the property is vacant, you will attract a larger pool of buyers as not everyone looking for a house wants to use it as a rental. 

Spend a little more money than you might have been planning to, buy in a better area (i.e. not a “turn key” 100k house off the mls), and self manage.

Quote from @Jeff Roth: Hi Lina from Texas-Congratulations on your interest in investing in mid-term rentals and you are wondering how and where to get started.I get this question frequently from investors.Sometimes and investor is looking to keep their property cashflow positive as insurance and taxes have squeezed cashflow by turning units into mid-term or short-term rentals.First off, ideally, the property will cashflow as a long-term rental should something disrupt the mid-term rental model.You will also want to have the property be near where there would be a demand for mid-term rentals (hospitals, universities, research centers).Monthly rents for mid-term rentals are about 20% (+/-) higher than unfurnished similar long-term rentals.There are property managers that will manage mid-term rentals for you and I always advise my clients to use property managers to keep their investment as passive as possible and for compliance issues related to Fair Housing Laws and local regulations.To Your Success! 

It was the worst house in the best location. 5 acres just above a lake outside of a desired town.

I was able to get a private loan which I used to purchase the house then I used my own money to rehab the house.

They live in a semi HCOL area called Torrance (house is in a good zip code 90503).

As a community I think we should focus on helping people who have had their housing situation negatively impacted recover as quickly as possible.

Would like confirmation on that though.For Solara, there seems to be no restrictions but a lot of houses for sale. 

This is a great platform to network and to continue to learn.Best of luck on your real estate journey.