-Attend at least 3 meet ups, in person, a month with my local REIA.

Maytag and Whirlpool are good imo.I personally also avoid ice makers and water dispensers.

My personal example is a one bedroom condo I’ve held my entire adult life - and this is in a top tier market - Dupont Circle neighborhood in Washington DC.

Agent: Their experience with investing personally and their experience working with customers just like you.

If you did not like that experience, maybe you should try a smaller company to get a more personalized service experience.  

We have been able to get some great deals simply by doing extra research that the average person wasn't willing to do.

He knew the person selling this property and asked if we were interested.

It's always a personal choice everyone has a different perspective.   

I would guess that you have little or no experience running any kind of STR, and now want to get that experience on the back of someone else's investment, with little or no personal skin in the game, and that's not a good way to build an investment portfolio.

Personally I like the Section 8 program when the property is located in a super poor area with a ton of blight and crime.