Airbnb had a big push recently showing how they believe this has hurt the NYC market not only for tourism (hotel prices soaring compared to other areas) but LTR rents have went up still as well.

If your living expenses are relatively low, have you considered pushing to hit that $15k goal within 5-7 months instead of 12-24?

If you buy in this way and factor in rental income to offset you mortgage, you are often going to come out ahead - sometimes very far ahead. 

After my post the tenant finally reached out and wanted to push the dates back by a couple days.

If you use property management software like TenantCloud, you can enter your listing once and it will push it out to many websites simultaneously.

@Patrick Bavaro we pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve:)

When you have a few good cash flowing properties under your belt then you can push it a bit more but be patient with your first few and look for the deals that work best for you.Rochester is a good area to be starting since there are a lot of properties that are relatively inexpensive that have room for improvement so there will be plenty of opportunities for you, but I'd highly recommend you go to your local REIA (Real Estate Investors Association) and speak with them before jumping into anything.

Luckily my partner pushed me and we did it and everything was fine, but thats more of an example of paralysis. 

Quote from @Michael Smythe: @Logan M. keep pushing your limits:) One home at a time!

Gonna push back on your assessment here.