I'm diving into some of the public county-level Zillow data.

Most credit unions do not help with non-owner occupied properties. 

If you think you have average intelligence and a general hard working person, for non luxury STRs (competing with 3 star or below hotels in the area for average people who simply need a bed and a kitchen) I would use 60% occupancy rate to start in the beginning and then 80% after stabilization.

This will help direct your search to the right areas, property types and price point.If you're purchasing all-cash, skip that step.Depending on your goal and preferred timeline for closing, the majority of your time should be spent searching for and analyzing deals.Searching: Look at public listing sites; connect with an investor friendly agent and choose 1 to work with who can search MLS and off-market inventory; for additional off-market options, consider growing your own database of wholesalers and homeowners Analyzing: Your agent can send comps and you can also search public listing sites for sold homes.

They’ll often have leads on deals before they go public. https://www.biggerpockets.com/business/finder/agentsWith your experience in renovations, you may be able to find value even in these challenging properties.

Matthew, if you are an accredited investor, there are literally thousands of syndications and crowdfunding deals (which are essentially syndications that are allowed to market over the Internet) available.

Public records have information on every sale in your area.

But when I check public records... not so much!

We think it’s important as it allows us to check for Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) issues and to determine if an applicant is living paycheck-to-paycheck.

What are your go-to non-Biggerpockets Youtube channels for REI?