So if a landlord chooses their properties well, and does a good job on rehab, and advertises timely, they should not have much if any down time between renters

If I wasnt getting a cash out of 125K I wouldnt be doing it, since Im using that money to pay the interest for at most a year and change , though gas prices are back down, china is coming out of lock down, time to wait for the supply chain to recover.

There's definitely some seasonality but some investors are able to rent out their beach homes from Oct-April on a mid-term lease to cover the down time and keep it open as a short-term rental during the busy summer months.

I will tell you a personal story that changed my life.I thought I had all the time in the world but at age 16 in a span of 2 years I lost my dad in an auto accident,my grandmother,my grandfather,my best friends dad to cancer 2 weeks before my dad died accidentally and my family (brothers) thought we were rich off of my dad's death so sued us in court (how nice).I was only 16 at the time and my world imploded.From that I learned the value of TIME and how rare it is.Instead of living to make my dad happy I redefined what I wanted my life to be which took me awhile to figure out.I owned a restaurant later on in life (my 20's) and made great money but the hours and problems were a killer.My weight went up to 280 and my cholesterol was at 300.I sold it off and took a few years off and regained my health and sanity.I learned from that experience that money IS NOT everything.It simply is a vehicle to accomplish my goals in life but I am not a slave to it.I believe you are much more rich and powerful when you are centered.Being centered is achieving a harmonious balance in as many aspects of your life as possible.I know people who have lots of money but are miserable.The kids hate them and the wife left them.The job didn't end up being the end all they thought it was.I believe for brokers and agent we need to specify residential versus commercial.In residential YES if you are working with small investors buying dumpy little houses you will work hard for a little return.I don't do residential housing.The headache is big and the returns are small (a few thousand if you are lucky).In commercial most of my clients own businesses and operate during the week.They value the weekends off and down time just as much as I do.Now if someone wants to fly in and is looking at big purchases I will make time but not at the last second.I will also qualify them before spending any time with them.I invest and buy properties myself so I understand time and money.A broker/agent being HUNGRY is all relative to their experience and knowledge and level of deals they are doing.I love commercial because my sales price and commission checks are much larger.Smallest deals typically are 500k and most are in the millions.Selling a 30k house I would have to do 34 deals to do 1 deal at a million sales price.As you can see just like investors not all brokers/agents are equal (the same).I believe the problem is expectations going in from both sides.The benefit for a broker/agent is with a starter investor the sales price is small but you can grow in deal size with them over time.If you already have investors purchasing large properties you don't want to mess with the small deals.So it's all really about where you are at and where you want to go for a broker/agent and as an investor.We are all I believe looking for the same thing.Independence to live the life we want BY CHOICE and not BECAUSE WE HAVE TO.

Is there a potential for short term rentals and is there a down time in the year where we might have to think of no occupancy ?

We also own a maintenance management company for STR to assist in less down time for rentals in the PCB area and we are branching out to the STR management opportunity in the near future.

-Neighborhood: B-Age: Brand new construction w/ builder warranty-Curb Appeal: All brand new interior, will rent fast, little downtime-Cash on Cash Return: Year 1 investment $60,000, net monthly cashflow $600 ($7,200/$60,000 = 12%)

While deployed, you will have down-time.

Pre-leasing can be a valuable strategy to minimize downtime between tenants and maintain a steady income stream. 

Establish quiet hours or downtime during weekends.Rotating Chores:a.