If you don't know what it will rent for or how many days per month you expect it to rent, you can't even start to evaluate whether it would work as a short term rental.

However, I expect for along hold, it will outperform virtually all other markets.  

It did cost more money than expected due to vacancy that I did not account for.

Although supply and demand of 2nds ebbs and flows, we're still finding that there are plenty of 2nds out there today and expect more to come.

However, we are expecting 2 rate cuts this year.

What kind of initial investment should I expect?

I expect prices to start creeping up in Q1/Q2 once people see 2024 was as good or better than 2023 for the majority of STRs in the area.

Our properties that are bigger always require mowing crews as you can't expect renters to keep up with mowing that much land.

@Guenevere F. you're going to need 20-25% down to get a mortgage.If you target $100k, that won't leave you any funds for closing cost, maintenance or emergency reserves.You could try targeting around $80k, but the $16k-$20k down payment would still not leave you with enough.If you buy under $80k, you're probably buying such a low-end property that it is unlikely to meet your performance expectations.

I hear if you fail it could take weeks for them to come back out so I just wanted to better prepare for that initial inspection and what to expect and also, any issues before then.