Short and intermediate timeframes up, down, and sideways come in every real estate market.

I was in the exact same boat about 1.5 years ago Justin.The properties that I buy are Very inexpensive, so this strategy wouldn’t be as effective on properties sat over 100k...Basically, my first 2 deals were home runs, meaning after the renovations we more than doubled our inItIal Imveatment.Purcjase prIce on house 1 was 24k, +6k In remIbatIons whIch I funded wIth cash. we refIed that one for 70k whIch resulted In mt InItIal onbeatment comong back plus an extra 30k or so.

For us, it’s income, pets, move-in time frame, and number of proposed occupants.

It's inexpensive and pretty easy as long as you have everything documented. 

Thanks for the quick reply, Julie - very encouraging to hear that it's an avenue worth pursuing.I used to be concerned about my personal furniture (which is not inexpensive) but after I added up the opportunity costs of NOT utilizing my primary residence as a STR in my absence, all my concerns about it vanished.

If you haven't heard of them already some quick rules of thumb are to look for properties that rent for 1% or more than the purchase price and generally you should expect about 50% of your rental income to go back out in expenses like property management, capital expenditure, maintenance, vacancy etc.

If you want to rent do you want current cash flow or do you want safer areas with more appreciation potential.Pigtown is the closest area to downtown that is still inexpensive but currently it is not very nice area. 

If it falls short you might have to put in expensive  upgrades for them.With national tenants you have to analyze what you are getting versus what you are giving up in return to see if it is worth it or not.

I have guys who are inexpensive and do quality work but i also have guys who cost a little more but are perfectionists and do very high end finishes. feel free to send me a connection/ message.

In either situation, it is important to assess the associated risk and time frame.