Starting small with house hacking, SFR, or STR, and balancing with a full-time job involves automation and early system building.

Now he uses property managers and I would bet dollars to donuts those professionals aren't offering cash for keys.I have 15 years experience managing 400 rentals and I have never offered cash for keys.

The repair work will likely involve the removal of drywall in order toperform repairs.

I get involved in A LOT of side discussions (when a thread goes off the rails and away from the original post) on BiggerPockets.

Hey guys, late to the party, but I'm heavily involved in investment real estate as a Broker Associate and investor in Fredericksburg, TX as well as our second home in Natchez, MS.

We're involved in a curriculum right now, and are also reading a bunch of books and binging on Bigger Pockets podcasts.

It just seems that with all the work and risk involved in finding your own property, managing contractors, and then finding and managing the property manager, the return on the SFR investment should be signifcantly higher than the syndication. 

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

I'm heavily involved in the co-living side of things in the Atlanta market and work a ton with Padsplit.Off the top, nice family oriented neighborhoods are typically a no-go for rent by the room and even more of a no-go if it's in an HOA.Please feel free to shoot me the property address in the DMs and would be happy to provide some feedback!

It really comes down to your investment goals and how involved you want to be in the process.