You kind of want to get the ball rolling on this quickly... you don't want to wait until the 30 day notice to know you have to market the property and get it ready to be turned around.

If this is the right property for you then go fundraise from friends/contacts (or as suggested from the owner) with the promise to refinance out once you have 2 years of rent rolls.  

FHA is 2.5% + PMI, there is a 5% down owner-occupied that just rolled out in October of last year, and there are multiple 10% down owner-occupied and second-home conventional loans. 5.

So most of the pre-covid ones have already rolled.I'd focus on the ones that are about to roll.

If they still want to roll the dice, then they must accept the risk and pay the right people to handle the eviction properly.

We were very fortunate to have been able to fun our first project with cash, and we simply rolled the profits from once job to the next until we were able to do two at once.

Other than that, we just keep rolling.

If this STR business is viable, or if there are better options for shielding W2 and rental income, I am funded and ready to roll.

Just as you described.. plus we had 49er season tickets so was there for the games.. you go around candlestick and under the freeway on the west side and that's a tight little area there. did a lot of work in that neighborhood before it rolled up to the projects next to McClaren park. 

In that case you would be able to borrow the 100k you bought the property for plus rolling in closing costs. 2. wait to close after 6 months.