If you're going to keep it a rental, you want to "maintain to the neighborhood", NOT your personal preferences (or that of your siblings).What's the estimated cost of any required repairs?

It comes down to niching down to the target audience (ie 30+ years ownership, built 1980s and earlier, owner age 70+).

Lenders usually prefer to refi with no other liens in place, but depending on your equity and the strength of the deal, you might find a private lender willing to work with you.

@Edward Heavrin I prefer to have my tenants aggressively pay off my debt.

Pick a lane/niche and stay the course.

To be successful right now in STR, you either need to go all out and beat everyone else on their table stakes (pickleball, basketball, game rooms, saunas, hot tubs, etc.) or you need to understand the market better than anyone and pick a niche for that market.Right now, you are one post in and just asking for someone to tell you anywhere in the United States to invest, which is silly.

There are many particularities to this, and I don't know anything about your business so I can't be much more specific, but what I can say is that more often than not businesses will find they have a narrower, more fertile niche than they imagine once they actually examine the who, the what and the why of the deals they close. 

I’ve had a couple of clients in both Austin and Scottsdale who’ve looked into similar options, and the truth is, it’s one of those niche areas where the institution you choose can make a big difference.

We're looking for either a duplex (larger lot preferred) or a SFH (3B2B preferred), aiming for a rehab budget of under $50K.

The tenants know the mini split is their best bet for controlling temp on their side, but they do not want to not pay for the energy to run it and would prefer the gas gets used (gas is included in their lease.)