I had one C/O bring me a lady with four duplexes, that I wholesaled for $18k each.

@Kyle Carter just because a building has all section 8 tenants doesn’t necessarily mean that the cap rate will be higher on exit but it might attract a buyer(s) that are focused cashflow and not appreciation; therefore a lower price to juice the yield.One of my non negotiables if I were you would be to only buy in an area that is desirable.  

My guess is it's not the business of this little old lady he's renting from. 

I looked at local companies, and while many locals have great boots on the ground, they lack the economies of scale and systems like what Avantstay uses to attract, vet, monitor, and enforce. 

As a result, this isn’t the kind of market that attracts top-tier PM talent.Your best solution might be to either:1.Take on self-management if possible (and if you’re willing to put in the time/effort).2.Find an individual you can trust to handle these properties, set up very specific instructions and processes, micro-manage them initially to ensure standards are met, and compensate them well to make it worth their while.This approach requires more oversight on your part but can yield better results in markets like this.

You have to attract interested parties that are willing to sell you their property cheaply because they need to vacate ownership for one reason or another.

By positioning the property effectively and highlighting its strengths, we attracted motivated buyers quickly, ensuring a successful sale without the need for renovations.

I realize this comes with the STR business but if I'm going to continue to use VRBO I need to find away to attract the "good" guests and minimize the bad ones.

That being the next "big" city along the interstate but you are talking about smaller cities even further south than that.To attract more interest, a higher population and greater economic or job growth are necessary.

So at this point given the large amount of income that the wealth management company kicks off, this very nice profit from the real estate portfolio is looking less and less attractive every year especially considering the time and mental real estate it takes up for her and the tax consequences.