But the HOA insisting on owners using their management company would be a major drawback!

has drawbacks, of, course.

What is the drawback?

If you decide not to do a DSCR loan, the second home loan is a popular option, but there are lots of drawbacks for investors as it is really a product made for regular home buyers.

Both are passthrough entities, meaning the income and expenses ultimately flow to your personal return, and both have benefits and drawbacks.

I've read up on the benefits and drawbacks of real estate investing and have decided to take the leap forward towards that goal. 

-Most leasees never exercise so 3 to 5 years from now... you keep the option fee, and had the benefit of rent that was probably above the market rate for your area.The drawback is that you don't get the ~$250k(after selling expenses) to play with. 

I don't see any drawbacks but haven't ruled that out.Dave

It happens that my PM uses appfolio so this works for me, but if your PM is on any of the many other platforms you'd have to figure out how to do manual downloads and uploads of your transactions, which is a bit of a drawback.

The current draw back is it doesn't cashflow as well as it could... mostly due to complicated longterm tenants.