My suggestion would be to buy a place to be a mid term rental and experiment with short term during the vacancy gaps. 

You can add additional properties to the LLC as well.

Make sure the lender you choose has a strong background in this type of lending...check them out on Linked In to see their experience level.

If anyone else here has been duped by these scammers, please reply.Sorry to hear about your experience.

People love it, and for only $13, its worth the price of an enhanced guest experience and higher chance of a 5-star review.  

Stock market returns have been good and I don’t have the headaches of dealing with any additional houses or guests.

@Michelle Wang, I completely understand your frustration, and I want to say that you are not alone in this experience.

Most of the lenders I work with (provided you have experience and a credit score over 660) would do up to 85% of the purchase price and up to 100% of the rehab costs, provided this doesn't exceed 75% of the ARV.As for the idea of selling the land, great idea.

I've got about $525K in equity in the property, but lenders have told me that I cannot get a HELOC to access that equity for additional purchases because the duplex was financed as an investment - they have said TX law dictates that HELOC can only be used on primary residences.

If they’re underfunded, you could get hit with special assessments.Not sure about the exact contract with the tenants, but I assume if there is any additional assessment, it would be tenants’ responsibility.Since you want to stay local and focus on cash flow, commercial makes sense, but have you considered industrial or flex space?