The biggest determining factors for STRs in the area are purchase or build price (and associated mortgage) vs rental expectations, that will help you determine net cash flow.

Purchase price: $252,000 Cash invested: $63,600First buy and hold.

Quote from @Paul Whitehurst: Many will tell you to borrow money from Property A to purchase Property B, but that's known as over-leveraging and not recommended for a newer investor.

Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Or, you could move out and leave this first purchase as a rental and buy another.

The one's I prefer handle everything in house, from purchasing the home, renovating it, renting it, then selling to an investor then managing for them on the back end.

My mother-in-law wants to help my husband and I on our first real estate investment purchase. 

On the other hand, with an appraisal near the purchase price, that should be enough in this case.

I am 1600 miles away from three residential properties I just purchased in Jackson, Mississippi. 

So it could take a decade to get to todays market rent. 2) it’s almost impossible if not impossible to non-renew a tenant, especially if you’re not an owner occupant. 3) As a seller, even if I could remove paying tenants I never would without a non-refundable payment from a potential buyer that covers all vacancies for 6 months if they fail to complete the purchase. 4) You MIGHT say as a buyer that’s worth it.