Chicago isn't going anywhere.Compare that to other cities in Florida, I think the population growth is amazing but long term with hurricanes/climate change, it will be harder and harder to own there. 

I just do not want to take this possibility off the table if it could help us really get moving in terms of number of doors we have rented out (a 2/3/4 door rental is an exponential increase in our cash flow, compared to the single family home we are planning to buy first). 

Now there was an increase in the bill to 1,755$ for 3 months.

By year two, he refinanced to lower his rate and dramatically increased his cash flow.

This really has not changed much but has increased since a few years ago everyone was pushing overpriced deals.So if you want to make the most money in real estate - you do not need to learn real estate just be a good sales person and fake it till you make it.  

With inventory tightening and competition increasing, what strategies have been most effective for sourcing truly undervalued properties?

That is assuming your DTI can cover the increased mortgage payment.If you have use for that extra $100k that you would get back right now then don’t wait.

I definitely agree that rent by the room is awesome for increasing cash flow - again, it does come with it's headaches but with the higher risk comes higher reward (I've been doing it for almost 3 years now, it's really the only way to make the numbers work with little cash down on properties).From my personal experience, talking to others at meetups, and reading this post, I think there's definitely demand for specialized rent by the room property management.

REV defaulted to investors late 2022, sounds like Norada heavily invested in them from Norada's website listing all the exact same companies owned only by REV, below is article from Marco, pitching somewhat frantically in August '23, How he will increase the interest rate?

I’ve used seller financing as both a buyer and a seller and it can make a lot of sense in certain circumstances (for example I used it as a buyer when I reached the maximum number of conventional loans I could get, and I’ve used it as a seller to both increase my net proceeds (due to collecting interest as “the bank” in addition to the sales proceeds) and to lessen my capital gains tax hit by spreading it out over a few years).