So your carrying costs can be quite large.  

For example, seller may have 4.5% debt and so current NOI is worth more to seller than a new buyer who has to pay 6.5% debt.Seller finance is a great tool too.My only caution is to NOT overpay for a property in exchange for seller finance at an attractive rate.Here is a hypothetical say market cap is 7.0%.New conventional debt is 6.5%.But seller will carry at 5%.With seller finance at 5%: What price does one pay?

The owners may agree to carry part of the financing, but you won't need them to stick around to transition operations.After acquiring the properties and assets you wish, you would either run your own business, or part-out and resell some of the assets.From your post, it does not sound like parting out the properties is a viable path and where you admit to having no experience with vacation rentals or the resort business, you might want to explore purchasing the business with the current owners hanging around for a bit to help you get your feet wet.Regardless of approach, it needs to have legs to be worth pursuing.

It is house-hacking gold haha.I want to chime in about the property location.

One tool I've utilized extensively for personal and client acquisitions are seller carried transactions. 

I would not hesitate to invest in Athens if the numbers look good;  new builds in Athens, to me, carry less risk for price correction than Hazel Green as well.  

I carry around a moisture meter and thermal camera for those very reasons because you never know what a couple of stains could mean behind sealed walls.

So, if no comps have pools...then adding one may carry ZERO value.  

Given that you've been carrying the property without a tenant for four months, you're already feeling the strain, so let's break it down:Long Term Rental vs.

This will allow you to rent out the other units and offset some of the housing expenses you carry.