PA is a great alternative to those because you can drive there and there are some great well-priced, lower tax alternatives to NY and NJ.

I had to build fences along my driveway accessing a drive under garage, because the retaining wall was more than 30" tall (standard building code item) but these properties were built in the 40s/50s and never had a fence there until I rented Section 8 and they required it.From a tenant perspective, I never had any of the issues James notes.

All you have to do is go out of town and as long as you can drive there and not have to fly things are a LOT easier!

If they announced Elon Musk was moving to Austin, everyone would be investing in Austin driving the prices up.

I am planning to travel to Columbus and drive around but I can't possibly get to know an entire area in even a few short visits. 

Anything is fair game within that driving radius.

It's about a 40 minute drive from me.

If I forget to pull them out, then I have to drive downtown to get a copy of the paper from the office at the newspaper.I'm pretty good at remembering now since I have driven down there a couple of times in the past.

Hi BP'rs, I don't have a good sense of how the interest rate cut today will affect me as a new investor looking for my first deal... will it start to drive up prices of homes in areas i'm looking at as money gets cheaper or am I off base?

If you operate an STR, gross income is your total rent paid by your guests, before any subtractions.To figure out your taxes, you take this gross income and subtract from it all allowable business expenses: marketing, education, technology, licenses and fees (including Airbnb and credit card fees), office expenses, business driving and so on.