I buy for 80k with a private lender at 8%, maybe clean it up a little or maybe not.

However, my future plans with REI involve transitioning my primary income from nursing to REI.

There are also several local meetups for investors so it's easy to get involved. 

Meanwhile the property was deteriorating and tenants complained and got Dallas County Housing Authority involved.  

This involves assessing the investor’s financial situation, investment strategy, and the specific projects they wish to undertake.

If not then we go with a really clean look of fresh beds, and grass that will really pop out. 

@Kristin Boekhoff to add to the great input from @Jason Taken:1) To save money, you really want to clean as little as possible.

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

Spending more than 100 hours and more than anyone else, or substantially all the time in the business.So if you own an STR and meet the test, you can set up a tax deduction machine.Some issues -- You have to count your time, and the time other people work in the biz (cleaning, maintenance, etc..)- If use the property more than 15 days or 10% of the time it becomes a residenceI suspect this is part of why the STR trend has picked up so greatly amongst professionals working in tech.

I have never taken his course, so can't speak to that, but on the surface of a couple Google searches, of the two he seems to actually be involved in real estate a lot more.