Magaly, you're in a strong position with $100k in equity for each property, and you have a few solid options beyond personal loans to take advantage of.

There will be gaps of course, but I would suggest that you use this to your advantage to max out your rental potential in advance. 

On the other hand, I feel one of the main advantages of passive investments (via syndication/crowdfunding) is that I can hire a manager who has years more experience than I can ever hope to obtain myself.

Eventually all that will be left on VRBO especially (Airbnb still has the "rent a room" advantage) is bums on both sides because good guests and good hosts don't need the exorbitant fees and piles of rules. 

This would ruin any of our chances to take advantage of a 'first-time home buyer' program, correct? 

Is there an advantage being in one town vs the other or are they all relatively equivalent in terms of occupancy and rates?

But it's just the reality of things here right now.While far from perfect, Cedar Rapids seems to have a better city government and has the advantage of being in-land Iowa.

This will be my first foray into the universe of admitting pets so all feedback is welcome.I feel like as STRs get more and more competitive, being pet friendly seems to be a competitive advantage in some markets

It’s especially advantageous that your construction costs are lower due to being a builder, which really boosts the overall profitability of the project.The numbers look strong, especially with a refinance at 5.9% the $24k net after expenses and $12k yearly pay down show a solid return, even with conservative estimates.

I wanted to point out another big advantage of CA RE that is not present in most out of state markets.