Hello all! 
My name is Merritt, first time poster here. I bought my first investment property in 2013, a duplex, as a house hack. Two year ago, I turned on of the units into a STR and have since caught the bug. Since...

New modern lights and ceiling fans, quality furniture, Big screen TVs (not so expensive anymore), big washer and dryer, one of those cool refrigerators.If you ever go stay in a nice hotel or nice airbnbs, try to pick up on some of the things they do to make it feel luxurious. 

Not sure what you purchased it for, but I'm guessing it will cover it.As you may be able to tell, I've not a fan of immediately 1031'ing.  

I'm not a huge fan of hard money lenders either but sometimes they work out.

After having experienced the California lifestyle–which I am not a fan of, in case it wasn’t clear–I am wary of approaching market at risk of “Californication”. 

If nothing else I take responsibility for that and will work to improve our communication systems between our franchisees, client success and sales team that's valid.As I have done before I'm a big fan of transparency and this forum, and will happily talk to anyone that has concerns about how we do business.

I'm a huge fan of no debt, but you're not at that point yet.

I'm not a fan of the referral industry and you are right about being biased.

We will be putting $3,700 down, and borrowing $15,000 over 4 years at 5%, which is 4x the interest rate our relatives make on their savings in a bank CD, making both them and us very happy with the terms of the transaction.After closing, we anticipate ~$4000 in rehab costs to bring this very tired unit up to date, which will include refinishing the hardwood floors, complete repainting, new kitchen flooring, new counter top, new appliances, new lights, blinds, fans, toilet, etc.  

And if the s..t really hits the fan and you have to evict someone and they trash the place, how will you deal with this when you are out of state?