Many municipalities allow appeals, and the savings can be substantial if successful.Pro Tip: Work with a tax advisor or attorney familiar with local property tax laws to improve your chances of winning an appeal.2.

You need to polish your skills, bigger pockets is a great place to start... find a local wholesaler you can work for/with and he will guide you. 

Otherwise, selling and using the proceeds to scale your portfolio locally could accelerate your long-term goals.

I love the town, but I guess that my point is that it has substantial challenges as a full time local.

Focus on rebuilding your credit, saving for a down payment, and learning the local market.

@Anade DavisHi Anade, You’re on the right track with reaching out to your survey and engineering company—they often have strong connections to local contractors.

I am very involved in our local real estate investor association and agree that in this central Florida market there are an over saturation of STRs as well.

You probably have good relationships locally so I would first think maybe upgrading to more units (if you like landlording and management) by selling the duds and then consider what you want to get into.

@Zach Denny  Similar to what Minna posted above, I have done with a local portfolio lender bank where they set their own lending rules. 

You might find a local credit union or community bank that will go to 95 -100%.At one point I called 2 different VA Regional Loan Centers regarding this section in the VA lenders handbook:Assumability - The second mortgage should not restrict theVeteran’s ability to sell the property any more thanthe VA first mortgage.